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A richly ornamented map of Cumberland by Willem Blaeu, this composition combines baroque elegance with geographic precision, capturing both the natural and political landscape of this northwestern English county during the early Stuart period. Blaeu’s rendering is based in part on the earlier surveys of Christopher Saxton and John Speed, but is elevated through refined engraving, sumptuous color, and a suite of cartouches and armorial embellishments characteristic of Blaeu’s atlas production at its zenith.
The county is shown bordered by the Mare Hibernicum (Irish Sea), Scotiæ Pars (Scotland), Northumberland, and Westmorland, with topography expressed pictorially. Dozens of towns and villages are named and marked with stylized symbols for market towns, churches, and castles. Roman antiquity is also acknowledged through the clear depiction of The Picts Wall (Hadrian’s Wall), which cuts a line across the northern boundary and serves as a reminder of the region’s imperial legacy.
The title cartouche in the lower right, inscribed CVMBRIA; vulgo CUMBERLAND, is flanked by rustic pastoral figures and playful cherubs, one of whom draws on a tablet, while sheep graze nearby, an idealized representation of rural life. In the upper left corner, Blaeu includes the royal coat of arms of Great Britain supported by a lion and unicorn. A separate coat of arms at the top right identifies Henry Clifford, Earle, referencing the Earls of Cumberland, with additional armorial bearings beneath associated with the names Marcatus E., Ran Meschems, and Andrew Harkley.
The Lake District ("Wynandermere fl." named) is shown in the bottom half of the map.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a prominent Dutch geographer and publisher. Born the son of a herring merchant, Blaeu chose not fish but mathematics and astronomy for his focus. He studied with the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, with whom he honed his instrument and globe making skills. Blaeu set up shop in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps, and edited the works of intellectuals like Descartes and Hugo Grotius. In 1635, he released his atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas novus.
Willem died in 1638. He had two sons, Cornelis (1610-1648) and Joan (1596-1673). Joan trained as a lawyer, but joined his father’s business rather than practice. After his father’s death, the brothers took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Later in life, Joan would modify and greatly expand his father’s Atlas novus, eventually releasing his masterpiece, the Atlas maior, between 1662 and 1672.
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