Celestial Chart: Abraham Ortelius 1603

Author: Abraham Ortelius Date: 1603 Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving Condition: Very Good + Inches: 9 x 9 [Image] Centimeters: 22.9 x 22.9 [Image] Product ID: 308009 Abraham Ortelius was born April 4, 1527.  His father was an antique dealer of some means, and thus Abraham received a classical education including instruction in Latin, Greek and mathematics.  He became a map colorist at the age of 19 and achieved an advanced level of skill.  Leveraging his success as well as his familiarity with maps and atlases, Ortelius became a trader in books, prints and maps, travelling widely in northern Europe to map and book fairs.  In 1564 he completed his first cartographic production, an eight-sheet wall map of the world. The only surviving example of this magnificent map is in the library of the University of Basel. Real prosperity arrived with the publication of the world’s first atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum in 1570, with 53 maps.  Ortelius was the first to engrave maps