Once again the Keizerskapel and The Phoebus Foundation join forces in a new focus exhibition consisting of a small selection from the vast collection of artworks, prints, historical books, maps and objects from The Phoebus Foundation. In her brand-new publication Groundbreakers – Remarkable Maps from the Low Countries, 1500-1900, Dutch historian Anne-Rieke van Schaik (Amsterdam) explores four centuries of groundbreaking carto- and topographical creations and developments in the Low Countries, and their fascinating influence on (world) history. The selected items were chosen to both amaze the spectator and support van Schaik’s captivating narrative.
The first and most noticeable object in the exhibition is a rare double hemisphere early world map engraved by Rumold Mercator in 1587, based on the monumental, famous world map by his father Gerard Mercator (1512-1594), published in 1569: Nova et aucta orbis terrae descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accomodata (‘A new and improved representation of the world for accurate navigation’) of which only three more copies are known to exist. Rumold reduced it in size considerably and applied a stereographic rather than a cylindrical projection. This method utilizes lines drawn from a point on the sphere diametrically opposite the plane of projection. While the convex shape of the earth is flattened as a result, it retains its round shape, so that the poles are not as distorted as they are in the Mercator projection. World maps of this type would be adopted in the Mercator and Mercator-Hondius atlases published between 1595 and the 1630s.
The second object on display is a beautiful French edition printed in 1614 of the Atlas Minor or Mercator-Hondius atlas, a smaller or pocket-size version of the original Atlas sive Cosmographia (1606) by Gerard Mercator. This smaller version was a Europe-wide success and editions were published not only in Latin, but also in French, Dutch, German and eventually in Russian, Turkish and English. The first map shows a fine double hemisphere world map, further maps include (besides Europe in detail), the Middle-East, Persia, India, Ceylon, Indonesia, China, Japan and eight representations of parts of the Americas.
Michel Coignet (1549-1623), Double-Sided Surveyor’s Circle, ca. 1610
The other two items on view are two examples of the incredible craftsmanship of late sixteenth century scientific measuring instruments. The first one is a beautifully crafted double-sided surveyor’s circle (or Holland circle, ca. 1610) with several alidades forming topographical compendium, attributed to famous Antwerp mathematician and manufacturer of mathematical instruments Michel Coignet (1549-1623). It is a surveying instrument used mainly for measuring accurate angles and distances in order to apply the triangulation to make topographic maps. We know six surveyor’s circles signed by Michel Coignet and dated, made between 1598 and 1606, but none not as sophisticated as this one. Surveyor’s circles of other makers of the same period are also known but they are much less elaborate.
Louvain workshop, Reduction Compass, ca. 1600
The second one is a well-preserved brass reduction compass in case (ca. 1600), an instrument used to resize sketches to a specific scale, made by an anonymous maker from the Louvain School. Unsigned Louvain instruments are notoriously difficult to attribute to a maker with certainty, but it is most likely that the signature ‘Michael Coignet fecit’ was falsely added later.
Text by Jasper Joris (The Phoebus Foundation Antwerp).