VISSCHER, CORNELIS, Title page for Principes Hollandiae et Westfrisiae

Beschrijving

Allegorical title page for a book of portraits of the counts of Holland, Zeeland and Westfrieland, with centrally the Dutch virgin with her arm resting on a globe and a lion behind her.

Etching and engraving on laid paper. Sheet size 344 x 450 mm., platemark 324 x 425 mm. Made by Cornelis Visscher after his own design.

The work 'Principes Hollandiae et Westfrisiae', written by Petrus Scriverius, was published in 1650 by Pieter Soutman in Haarlem, and contained a total of 38 portraits of the Counts of Holland, from the year 863 onward.

In good, but restored condition. A tear in the middle of the sheet was backed with a strip of paper. Otherwise fine.

Petrus Scriverius (1576 – 1660), the latinised form of Peter Schrijver, was a Dutch author and scholar on the history of the Low Countries, as well as classical literature.

References: Hollstein 77-116; Smith 146-185.