Maps on Paintings...on Stamps

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     Recently I became aware that many Dutch painters in the seventeenth century included maps in their paintings. 94 paintings by 35 painters are listed by James A. Welu. In additon to  Jan (or Johannes) Vermeer there is a map on a painting by de Hooch issued by Fujeira.

     Vermeer (1632-1675) included maps in nine of his paintings. The map on Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (1662-1665) is been indentified NOVA ET ACCURATA TOTIUS HOLLANDIAE WESTFRISAEQ TOPOGRAPHIA, designed and painted by Balthasar Florisz. van Berckenrode (1591-1644) in 1620, and printed by Willem Jansz Blaeu between 1621 and 1629. This map was also painted in two other Vermeer paintings, Officer and Laughing Girl and Woman in Blue Reading a Letter.
     The map is preserved in the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, North Holland. The Vermeer painting is preserved in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

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