Amsterdam 1544

Published in 1544 by Cornelis Anthoniszoon Schilder as “De vermaerde de Koopstadt van Amstelredam, geconterfeyt met alle sijn Wateren, Brugghen, Straten, Kercken, Kloosteren, Huysen, Toorens, Poorten ende Mueren, ende omleggende situatie.…”, this detailed and beautifully hand-coloured view of Amsterdam shows the city some 90 years after the devastating fire of 1452, which destroyed 75% of the mostly wood-built city, and led the Emperor Charles to issue a decree that all future building would be in stone or brick. The dramatic perspective and the benevolent figure of Neptune were borrowed from a 1500 map of Venice by Jacopo di Barbari.