Beautiful Map of the Spanish Cantabrian Coast. Circa 1650, Original Coloring

Beautiful Map of the Spanish Cantabrian Coast. Circa 1650, Original Coloring

Magnificent map depicting the eastern section of the Spanish Cantabrian Coast, as well as parts of Castile and France. It is an original colored engraving from circa 1650, published by the Dutch cartographer and publisher Johannes Janssonius. The engraving is exceptionally beautiful and very well preserved. It depicts part of Spanish territory, with the outline finely defined in black lines, colored, and shaded with various tones. The coloring is original and retains its brightness and vibrancy, despite having endured hundreds of years.

The map shows the northern coast of Spain, from the border with the Pyrenees and France to the center of what was then the Lordship of Biscay, which included the present-day province of Biscay and the region of Cantabria. Guipúzcoa, Navarre, and part of the Kingdom of Castile are also depicted. The Cantabrian Sea is subtly colored in a lovely pastel blue, adorned with two beautiful compass roses whose rays intersect. Between them is the inscription OCEANUS CANTABRICUS, flanked by two coats of arms, one of which is blank. In the sea, we can also see the elegant silhouettes of three caravels. The publisher's signature, Apud Ioannem Ianssonium, appears in the lower margin. This Dutch cartographer and publisher achieved great fame for his atlases, which compiled engravings by the finest illustrators of the era.

In the lower left corner is a beautiful, full-color decorated coat of arms bearing the inscription "BISCAIA ET GUIPUSCOA CANTABRIAE VETERIS PARS." In the opposite corner is a scale, also colored, which a naked boy is measuring with a compass while holding a large ruler in his other hand. Resting on the scale are two elegant classical volutes and a globe. The map as a whole is colored in vivid shades of red, green, yellow, blue, pink, and ochre, and is also surrounded by an attractive numbered yellow frame. On the reverse side, we can see a description of Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa (Biscaia und Guipuscoa) in German, evidence that this map belonged to one of the atlases compiled by Johannes Janssonius in the mid-18th century.

The great age of this map and its undeniable beauty make it a unique, authentic, and highly decorative piece.

Dimensions: Width: 56.8 cm. Height: 47 cm.