Over the last century a growing number of visual artists have been captivated by the entwinements of beauty and power, truth and artifice, and the fantasy and functionality they perceive in geographical mapmaking. This field of “map art” has moved into increasing prominence in recent years yet critical writing on the topic has been largely confined to general overviews of the field. In M…
Now characteristic of the Dutch Golden Age, printed maps, views, and historical descriptions of Dutch Atlantic possessions were prolific in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. They were in books, hung on walls, and sold in single sheets to consumers eager to learn about exploration, trade, and colonization.