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A highly decorative 17th-century map of Devonshire by Joan Blaeu, engraved in fine detail and embellished with vibrant original hand color. The map presents the county bounded by Cornwall to the west and Somerset to the northeast, with the southern coast labeled Mare Britannicum and The British Sea. Dozens of towns, rivers, and regional divisions are marked in Latin, including prominent towns such as Exeter, Barnstaple, Tiverton, and Totnes.
The map’s most prominent embellishments appear at the margins. At left, a vertical column of ten shields is shown, eight of which are filled in with brightly colored coats of arms.
In the upper right corner is Royal Coat of Arms. At the lower left, a putto holds dividers over a strapwork cartouche enclosing the scale bar.
The title cartouche at lower right is framed in ornate strapwork. At the top center of the frame sits a cherubic putto holding a pastoral staff, evoking themes of rural peace. To the left, a pair of seabirds (cormorants?) perch on the scrollwork, while beneath them a group of three or four sheep rest or stand in the lower corner, emblematic of Devon’s long-standing agricultural economy. To the right of the cartouche stand two figures in rustic English dress, likely intended to represent local farmers. Fish support the bottom sides of the title block.
Joan, or Johannes, Blaeu (1596-1673) was the son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu. He inherited his father’s meticulous and striking mapmaking style and continued the Blaeu workshop until it burned in 1672. Initially, Joan trained as a lawyer, but he decided to join his father’s business rather than practice.
After his father’s death in 1638, Joan and his brother, Cornelis, took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Joan brought out many important works, including Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula, a world map to commemorate the Peace of Westphalia which brought news of Abel Tasman’s voyages in the Pacific to the attention of Europe. This map was used as a template for the world map set in the floor of the Amsterdam Town Hall, the Groote Burger-Zaal, in 1655.
Joan also modified and greatly expanded his father’s Atlas novus, first published in 1635. All the while, Joan was honing his own atlas. He published the Atlas maior between 1662 and 1672. It is one of the most sought-after atlases by collectors and institutions today due to the attention to the detail, quality, and beauty of the maps. He is also known for his town plans and wall maps of the continents. Joan’s productivity slammed to a halt in 1672, when a fire completely destroyed his workshop and stock. Joan died a year later and is buried in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.
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