Spectandum Dedit Ortelius Mortalib. Orbem, Orbi Spectandum Galleus Ortelium
Imprint: 1579
325 x 220 mm., later wash colour, with some marginal light waterstain and minor crease, neither affecting the image, otherwise in good condition.
This is one of the most famous portraits of a cartographer. Engraved by Philip Galle, it is of Abraham Ortelius (1527-98) at the age of about 50. It was first published in his atlas the 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' in 1579. A fine ornate portrait likely taken from the painting by Paul Rubens currently displayed in the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Hind I p. 157. pl. 91; Van den Broecke (1996) pp. 14-15.
