Spectacular map of Ireland based on the new surveys by Sir William Petty. Adorned with beautiful cartouches.


Visscher's map is probably the most famous and most influential of a surge of late 17th century Dutch maps dedicated to the island. It is likely that this was influenced by King William III's recent accession to the throne of the United Kingdom and his subsequent military triumphs in Ireland. As William was formerly the Prince of Orange, this is likely the main reason for the sudden influx of Irish maps in Dutch atlases.



The first edition of this map was issued by Visscher in 1690. It was one of the earliest printed maps based on Petty's Down Survey; this was first performed in the 1650s during Cromwell's expedition to Ireland as a method to reward Cromwell's soldiers with the allocation of Irish land. However, the survey was not actually printed until 1685. Visscher's map, with its new first hand source, was substantially more accurate than previous maps which were mainly based on Mercator and Speed's works from the early 17th century.



Visscher revised the map again at the beginning of the 18th century, improving the shape of Lough Erne in the northwest and adding several more place names. The spectacular cartouches remained the same. On the upper left, the title cartouche shows the Harp of Ireland and is surrounded by putti. On the lower right, the scale also shows a vignette of Perseus saving Andromeda from the sea beast Cetus, an image that was favoured by artists through the centuries. This is an example of the late-17th century edition without the updated Lough Erne.


Original hand colour. [IRE2266]