Sale 218 Lot 507

PORTRAIT OF ABRAHAM ORTELIUS: ENGRAVING BY PHILIPPE GALLE circa 1579 This finely engraved oval portrait depicts the Flemish geographer and cartographer Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598), creator of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, widely regarded as the first modern atlas. The engraving is the work of Philippe Galle (1537–1612), one of the leading Netherlandish printmakers of his day, who rendered Ortelius in profile wearing a ruffed collar and fur-trimmed robe. The portrait is set within an elaborate strapwork and floral border topped by a Chi-Rho monogram, with a Latin inscription below reading "Spectandum dedit Ortelius mortalib. orbem, / Orbi spectandum Galleus Ortelium" honoring Ortelius for revealing the world to mankind, and Galle for revealing Ortelius to the world. Framed. Not examined out of frame. Sight: 17.5 x 11 inches; frame: 17.5 x 24.5 inches
$200-300

ARTIST PROFILE: Philip (Philippe) Galle (1537–1612) was one of the most prolific and influential printmakers of the Low Countries in the second half of the 16th century. Born in Haarlem and dying in Antwerp, he was a Flemish engraver, print dealer, publisher, writer and historian, publishing a list of over 2,500 prints between 1563 and 1606, encompassing portraits, religious, and allegorical subjects. Trained by the Haarlem humanist Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert, Galle began his career in the studio of the engraver and publisher Hieronymus Cock, who published his first prints in 1557. In 1563 he launched his own print-publishing business in Haarlem, later moving to larger premises in Antwerp in 1570, where his first house was most probably a house called Het Gulden Hert, situated opposite the house of the mapmaker Ortelius, a fitting neighbor, given Galle's renowned 1579 portrait engraving of him. Galle is most celebrated for his series of portraits of famous scholars, though his oeuvre also included innovative religious and moralistic subjects. He collaborated with leading designers such as Anthonie Blocklandt, Hans Bol, Maarten de Vos, and Johannes Stradanus, and employed numerous accomplished engravers, including the Wierix brothers and his own sons Theodoor and Cornelis, who carried on the family workshop into the 17th century. Galle's prolific output and close ties to the leading scholars and artists of his day left a lasting mark on Northern European printmaking.