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The First Large Format Map of Upper Austria
Fine 12 sheet map of Upper Austria, first published by George Matthaus Vischer in 1669.
This remarkable work would become the best map of the region for nearly 100 years, offering a timely beauty and craftsmanship rarely seen in maps of this period.
The map extends from Passau in the northwest to the Monastery at Admont in the Southeast, with elaborately engraved images of mining, lakes, water mills, and castles, etc.
Engraved by Melchior Kusell, in 1669, the map is richly embellished with vignettes showing mining scenes, water mills and views of towns and valleys, finished with an elaborate scene of globes and surveying instruments.
Vischer began his surveys in 1667, completing the map the following year, at which time it was engraved by Kusell.
By 1670, Vischer would create a grand map of Lower Austria in 16 sheets.
The map would be reissued by C.A. Schantz in 1762 (the present example) and 1808.
Melchior Küsell was a pupil and son-in-law of Mathaeus Merian the elder.
George Matthaus Vischer was an Austrian parish priest and mapmaker, born in the Tyrol.
Despite earning his living as a priest, Vischer was a remarkable mapmaker. On behalf of the Austrian nobility and clergy, he compiled maps and created engravings and drawings of more than 1000 cities, castles, manors, abbeys and cloisters in Austria, Styria, Moravia and Hungary.
Vischer's maps and views are frequently the oldest surviving images of the places depicted and his work is of tremendous importance to scholars and historians.
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