Description

This post is also available in: Nederlands

Balthasar Florisz van Berckenrode (Delft, 1591 – 1645) was a Dutch cartographer. Balthasar Florisz came from an important 17th-century family of surveyors and cartographers. In 1611 he already supplied maps to the admiralty in Rotterdam, but until 1616 he worked for his father on the latter’s maps of Schieland and Rhineland. His father – Floris Balthasars (1562/63 – 1616) – was in circles around Prince Maurits, to which Simon Stevin and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt also belonged. Around 1600 they realized that cartography can play an important role in public administration, especially in times of war. From 1619 to 1641 Balthasar Florisz lived and worked in Amsterdam. In 1641 he moved to The Hague after being appointed as a sworn surveyor for the States General. However, he died in 1645. In 1629 he made a wall map of Holland and West Friesland, Comitatus Hollandiæ, commissioned by Henricus Hondius, which served as an example for many other atlas maps in folio or smaller format. He was also known for the maps he made of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and the maps of the siege of ‘s Hertogenbosch. His bird’s eye view of the Honselaarsdijk house and the ‘Delineatio abitus Magnae Brittaniae Reginae ex Hollandia in Angliam’ of 1643 also stood out. His last work was a print of the siege of Sas-van-Gent from 1644. In Amsterdam the Balthasar Floriszstraat (Old South) is named after him, in Rotterdam the Van Berckenrodestraat, and in Middenbeemster the Balthasar van Berckenrodeweg.

Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balthasar_Florisz._van_Berckenrode

Henricus Hondius also: Hendrik or Henri (Amsterdam, 1597 – 16 August 1651) is one of the most important Dutch cartographers. His father Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612), in Dutch Joost or Josse de Hondt (Wokken, 14 October 1563 – Amsterdam, 12 February 1612) was a Flemish cartographer from the Southern Netherlands who is best known as the publisher of the atlases of Gerardus Mercator. In 1584 Jodocus fled to London (to escape the Spanish Inquisition), after which he moved to Amsterdam in 1593. Like his father, Hendrik had excellent engraving skills and great scientific accuracy. He was also a convinced Calvinist and averse to “Paepse Beuseleryen”. In his early days he helped his father and his brother Jodocus (II) in the family business where cards were made and printed. After the death of his father, the business was continued by his widow and her two sons. In 1621 Henricus married Johanna Verspeet and started his own business on Dam Square in Amsterdam, in the house called “de Atlas”. The name Henricus appears for the first time on the title page of the fifth edition of the Mercator Hondius atlas from 1623. This atlas contained 156 maps, 138 of which were about a quarter of a century old. Rumold Mercator’s world map was even dated 1587. However, this did not hinder sales. The atlases were a great success, partly because the latest discoveries of Dutch, Spanish and English navigators were incorporated into the maps. Much attention was also paid to embellishing the maps through the use of cartouches, medallions with cityscapes or portraits and coats of arms. It is remarkable that quite a few maps from the years 1627, 28 and 29 have been preserved with the text: habitantis in Damo ad intersigne Atlantis; this in different variations. In the first half of the seventeenth century there was a lot of rivalry between the various publishers. This did not improve when Willem Blaeu acquired the 34 copper plates from the estate of Jodocus II in 1629 and, after some processing, started using them for his own atlases. It was in the same year that Hendrik settled again in the parental home called: In den Wackeren Hondt. One of his first projects was to reproduce the sold records. In 1630 Johannes Janssonius, who was married to a sister of the Hondius brothers, joined the business. Janssonius’ name, however, was already mentioned in 1628 on the title page of the atlas minor. John Speed’s atlases to which Jodocus I had contributed a lot were also still being republished. Around this time, work was also being done on the publication of Sanderus’ Flandria Illustrata, but because this collaboration apparently did not go well, Hondius sold the rights to his rival Blaeu halfway through. On a map from Blaeu’s atlas: “Nova et Exacta … Iprensis” is also mentioned: Henricus Hondius excudebat. After 1646, Hondius’ name is no longer mentioned on the title page of the atlases. The publishing house was continued by Janssonius.

Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henricus_Hondius_(cartographer)