GUELDERS NETHERLANDS & KLEVES GERMANY 1573 ORTELIUS UNUSUAL ANTIQUE ORIGINAL MAP

Gelriae, Cliviae, Finitimorumque Locorum Verissima Descriptio Christiano Schrot. Auctore. 

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1573 Abraham Ortelius's copper engraved map providing a detailed depiction of the historical territories situated along the lower course of the Rhine River, including the Duchy of Guelders (Gelriae), the Duchy of Cleves (Cliviae), and the Duchy of Jülich—regions now divided between the eastern Netherlands and western Germany.
 
Orientation: In keeping with many works from this period, the map is rotated 90 degrees: East is at the top (indicated by the label "Oriens" along the upper margin), while South is to the right and North is to the left.
 
Title Cartouche: In the lower-right corner, there is an elaborate, Mannerist-style cartouche—supported by mythological or grotesque figures—which frames the formal Latin title of the work.
 
The Zuiderzee: In the lower-left corner, one can see the historic Dutch inlet—known today as the IJsselmeer—clearly marked with the archaic name "Zvyder Zee" and traversed by a finely engraved Renaissance galleon.
 
The map was engraved by Abraham Ortelius for his renowned atlas, *Theatrum Orbis Terrarum*.
 
The work is based on cartographic surveys conducted in 1567 by the royal geographer Christian Sgrooten (identified in the cartouche as "Christiano Schrot Auctore").
 
Christiaan Sgrothen (also known as Schrooten, Schrot, Schrott, s'Grootens, Sgrothenthum, Sgrootenus, etc.; born in Sonsbeck, between Geldern and Xanten, c. 1525 – died in Kalkar, 1603) was a Dutch cartographer. He was born in Sonsbeck, the son of Peter Sgrothen—a notary and municipal scribe who likely hailed from Brabant. He worked as a painter and cartographer in Kalkar on the Lower Rhine, where he acquired civil law in 1548 and bought a house on the market around 1553. Here he married the innkeeper's daughter Agnes van Bedber. Two children are known from this marriage.
 
Around 1555 he started mapping the Lower Rhine area. In 1557 he produced a map of Gelderland that came out later in print. On December 2 of that year, he was appointed court cartographer (Geographus Regiae Maiestatis Hispaniae) of King Philip II. The government in Brussels initially ordered him to map all provinces, regions and cities that belonged to the Spanish crown, with the borders and neighboring regions, for which Sgrothen traversed the entire region. In 1568 he started his main work, mapping the German Empire. This was recorded in two atlases from the years 1572/73 and 1592, which were never published. Sgrothen died in 1603 and was buried in the Dominican church of Kalkar.

Date: 1573 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 53,9 x 40,9

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains and wiremark. Map old original colored. Small foxing and browning. Small tears repaired on the reverse. Map folded. Conditions are as you can see in the images. 

Mapmaker: Abraham Ortelius (1527 - 1598) was one of the most important figures in the history of cartography and is most famously credited with the compilation of the seminal 1570 atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, generally considered to be the world's first modern atlas. Ortelius was born in Antwerp and began his cartographic career in 1547 as a typesetter for the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. In this role Ortelius traveled extensively through Europe where he came into contact with Mercator, under whose influence, he marketed himself as a "scientific geographer". In this course of his long career he published numerous important maps as well as issued several updated editions of his cardinal work, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Late in his career Ortelius was appointed Royal Cartographer to King Phillip II of Spain. On his death in July fourth, 1598, Ortelius' body was buried in St Michael's Præmonstratensian Abbey, Antwerp, where his tombstone reads, Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole.