founded by Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571–1638) and later continued
the Four Elements by Hendrik Goltzius (Haarlem, 1586). But of all
by his two sons, Joan and Cornelius. The Nova Totius Terrarum
these sources, the one that best connotes the idea of the map as a
Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula, originally published
mirror of the world is that related to the Seven Wonders.
in Amsterdam in 1606 as a separate sheet map, remained in active
Although according to the title the map is “new” (nova), the
circulation for over fifty years. It was copied by Pieter van de Keere
iconography of these motifs rests firmly on classical ground, and
in Amsterdam in 1608 and included in other Blaeu’s atlases, such as
it raises the question of what in its margins is actually new (or
the Theatrum orbis terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, by Willem Janszoon
scientific, for that matter). Somewhat surprisingly, it is indeed the
and his son Joan (Amsterdam, 1635; plate 27).
appeal to antiquity that brings novelty to this map. The images
The Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis is a map with figured borders.
derive from the rebirth of classic subjects that took place in the
The strip on the left shows in four rectangles the elements (fire, air,
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European arts, driven by
water, and earth), and the one on the right the four seasons (spring,
Humanism and the Italian Renaissance. As far as the Seven Wonders
summer, autumn, and winter). Both these decorative motifs recur
of the World, only in the Renaissance did the list we know today
at the four corners of other contemporary maps (plates 28 and 31).
become fixed. The Dutch artist Maerten van Heemskerck (1498–
The upper and lower strips strengthen the map’s link with classical
1574) crystallized the ideas of his generation in a series of engravings
antiquity: at the top, seven planets are personified by the gods of
based on literary sources (even back then, only one of the Seven
the Greco-Roman pantheon (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars,
Wonders—the Great Pyramid of Giza—remained). These prints,
Jupiter, and Saturn). Starting in the lower cartouche of the left strip
engraved by Philips Galle and published by Theodoor Galle in 1572,
(Earth) and moving upward to the last cartouche in the upper strip
became the source used by Blaeu (fig. 10).
(Saturn), the vignettes reproduce the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic
Another interesting example of the scientific approach of
astronomical systems (fig. 1, plates 4, 28, and 29). The lower strip
marginalia on a map is A New and Accvrat Map of the World:
depicts the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (from left to right):
Drawne according to ye truest Descriptions, latest Discoueries &
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus over the harbor at
best Obseruations yt have beene made by English or Strangers,
Rhodes, the Egyptian pyramids, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
1626, attributed to John Speed (1552–1629) and first published
at Caria, the Temple of Artemis (or Diana) at Ephesus, the Statue of
by George Humble in London in 1627 in an atlas known as A
Zeus at Olympia, and the lighthouse of Alexandria. For the motifs
Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World (plate 28). The
in the borders of his map, Blaeu used Flemish engravings, such as
many images that surround the double-hemisphere map were copied
23