Item #196 P./ ORTELIUS GALLE, A.
Fine Portrait of the Flemish Master Cartographer
In Superb Original Color, Beautifully Framed
Ortelius—Portrait.
[Antwerp, 1579/ ?]

12 ¾ x 8 3/8 inches, Fine original hand color; fine condition; gold, beaded frame with elegant French mat.

A portrait of the great map publisher and cartographer at about the age of 50, when his atlas was becoming established as the definitive work of its kind.  This engraving is very likely after a painted portrait by Adriaen Thomaszoon Key, which is similar but reversed.  The present work served as a frontispiece to the Ortelius atlas for editions beginning with the 1579.  The witty Latin inscription below the portrait reads in English translation: “By observing, Ortelius gave man the world, / By observing Ortelius, Galleus gave him to the world.”

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