The Great World Maps
Visscher's World of the Four Elements
Air, fire, water and earth, one in each corner.
- Map
- Map of the World
- Mapmaker
- Nicolaes Visscher I
- Date
- c. 1670 to 1680
- Held by
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.
Size
$29.00
The story
The eastern and western hemispheres sit side by side, and in the corners the four elements appear as figures: air, fire, water and earth. Nicolaes Visscher published it in Amsterdam around 1670 to 1680, and the Rijksmuseum names the painter Nicolaes Berchem and Jan de Visscher among its makers. The map is a statement about the whole of creation as much as a guide to its coastlines. It is a cousin of the Visscher world with the two poles in this collection: the same family, the same painter, a different arrangement of the cosmos.
About this reproduction
- A faithful reproduction of a public-domain map held by Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam — the work is centuries out of copyright.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper or 400gsm canvas; framed pieces sit behind acrylic.
- Color-managed to the source scan; we correct nothing and invent nothing.
- Ships in 5–10 business days, rolled in a heavy-wall tube (framed and linen-backed pieces ship flat-packed).
- If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.
Why our maps cost more than a poster: we print from the highest-resolution scans in existence, at sizes where the engraving itself becomes visible — the sea monsters, the tiny place-names, the burin lines — on matte paper that holds every line without glare.
