The Astrolabe - Amerigo Vespucci, from Nova Reperta

1580·Engraving on ivory laid paper·Sheet: 19.5 × 27.4 cm (7 11/16 × 10 13/16 in.)

Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust Collection, purchased with funds provided by the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial, Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston, anonymous, and Suzanne Searle Dixon endowment funds

Catalogue

Year: 1580
Medium: Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 19.5 × 27.4 cm (7 11/16 × 10 13/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Jan van der Straet

Artist

Jan van der Straet

Johannes Stradanus was a Flemish artist active mainly in 16th-century Florence, Italy. He was a wide-ranging talent who worked as an easel and fresco painter, designer of tapestries, draughtsman, designer of prints and pottery decorator. His subject range was varied and included history subjects, mythological scenes, allegories, landscapes, genre scenes, portraits, architectural scenes and animals. After training in his native Flanders, he left his home country and ultimately settled down in Florence, Italy. He became a prominent court artist to the Medici during the second half of the 16th century and worked on the many decorative projects of the court. Stradanus also produced large altarpieces for the most important churches in Florence.

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