Catalog Archive
Auction 120, Lot 54

"[Creation of Earth]", Goeree, Willelm & Jan

Subject: Cartographic Miscellany

Period: 1690 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
6.8 x 11 inches
17.3 x 27.9 cm
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This is a very unusual print from a Dutch book on church history published by the Goeree brothers. It illustrates the controversial theories of Thomas Burnet, the first Englishman to attempt a scientific account of the origin of the earth. His popular treatise focused on the breaking up of "the fountains of the great deep" as the cause of the flood, as described in Genesis, and it presented a model of the earth's structure with ample stores of water within subterranean chambers. The biblical citations surrounding the diagrams of the earth are focused on the word of God and his control of the seas. Biblical scenes surround the diagrams including Eve offering the apple to Adam and the Expulsion, people feasting before the Great Flood and two bizarre creatures representing the sun and the earth.

References:

Condition: B+

A couple of faint spots of foxing, still attractive.

Estimate: $150 - $200

Sold for: $300

Closed on 7/18/2007

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