Nicolaes Visscher’s map was first included in the ‘

 in 1658, and then unchanged in subsequent editions of the Visscher family’s ‘

 Contractus’, and composite atlases. The map, and particularly its border, was modified in about 1679.

The Visscher (or Fisher) publishing house was started by Claes Janszoon Visscher the Elder, but it was the son, Claes Janszoon Visscher II (1587-1652) who first emerged as a printmaker from number eight Roomolenstteeg, Amsterdam. His grandfather had been a fisherman, and fishermen are a recurring theme throughout Visscher’s engravings - his monogram includes a fishhook. By 1605, he was working for 

 on his monumental world map printed on twenty plates. Blaeu also published a number of Visscher’s individual etchings from designs by David Vinckboons, who may have trained Visscher in the art of etching and engraving. By 1608 Visscher was signing his name as the creator and publisher of his own works. In 1611, he acquired a house in the prestigious Kalverstraat, between Dam Square and the Stock Exchange, and from there built up an impressive stock of maps, city views and other topographical prints. “In due course, he became Amsterdam’s most productive and innovative print publisher. It is estimated that a thousand or so prints were produced in Visscher’s workshop and more than four thousand others were printed from bought in second-hand plates, making the print publisher one of the largest in Europe. Later the print publishers 

, Justus Danckerts and Clement de Jonghe also set themselves up in Kalverstraat, creating a huge concentration of activity in print making and print dealing” (Leefland).

Claes Janszoon Visscher's son, Nicolaes (1618-1679) joined the business when he was barely more than a child. After his father’s death in 1652, he ran the firm until his own death. He was succeeded by his son Nicolaes II, until 1702, when his wife Elizabeth Verseyl successfully continued the business until her death in 1726. Thereafter the shop came into the possession of the publisher Andries de Leth.

Nicolaes Visscher’s new map is largely based on 

’s large wall map of 1648. Visscher has added the two smaller hemispheres showing the earth from the two poles, reflecting contemporary demand for views of the world on different projections, based on Jodocus Hondius’ prototypes.

California is shown as an island, and Alaska and the lakes of Canada do not appear at all. Anian appears in northwest America. Described by Marco Polo, it was meant to be the first land reached after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Arctic. The outlines of Australia and New Zealand are left unfinished, as are the coastlines of western America and eastern Asia, perhaps still allowing for the possibility that they are contiguous. The outline of Australia is recognisable but sketchy, and Visscher’s map was one of the first to completely eradicate the mythical southern continent of Terra Australis.

The map’s elaborate borders were created by Nicolaes Pieterszon Berchem (1620–1683), a painter well-regarded for his pastoral landscapes. The borders he created for Visscher’s map, and which he has signed lower left, weave together classical mythology and the elements. The corners show the rape of Persephone (fire), Zeus enthroned (air), Demeter amongst the harvest (earth), and Neptune in his chariot (water). The whole is presided over by personifications of the elements supporting the two polar projections. The cycle also roughly corresponds to the passage of the seasons.

Nicolaes Visscher (1618–1679) was the air to the Visscher publishing house founded by his grandfather Claes Janszoon Visscher the Elder (1587–1652) and expanded by his father, Claes Janszoon Visscher II. After his father’s death in 1652, he ran the firm and continued to build his family’s dynasty as one of Amsterdam’s most productive and innovative publishers. He was succeeded by his son Nicolaes II, until 1702, when his wife Elizabeth Verseyl successfully continued the business until her death in 1726. Thereafter the shop came into the possession of the publisher Andries de Leth.

The first appearance of Nicolaes Visscher’s celebrated double-hemisphere map of the world, here with superb contemporary hand-colour in a very painterly hand, is surrounded by a lavishly decorated allegorical border, created especially for Visscher by Nicolaes Berchem, which set a new precedent for the high baroque style of decoration that distinguishes Dutch cartography of the later seventeenth century.

Visscher’s new map is largely based the 

’s large wall map of 1648. Visscher has added the two smaller hemispheres showing the earth from the two poles, reflecting contemporary demand for views of the world on different projections, based on Jodocus Hondius’ prototypes.

The first appearance of Nicolaes Visscher’s magnificent double-hemisphere map of the world, here with superb contemporary hand-colour in a very painterly hand, is surrounded by a lavishly decorated allegorical border, created especially for Visscher by Nicolaes Berchem, which set a new precedent for the high baroque style of decoration that distinguishes Dutch cartography of the later seventeenth century. 

Double-page engraved copperplate double-hemisphere map of the world, with contemporary hand-colour in full.

Visscher’s New World Map