Catalog Archive
Auction 177, Lot 531

"Tempe", Ortelius, Abraham

Subject: Vale of Tempe, Greece

Period: 1590 (dated)

Publication: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

Color: Black & White

Size:
18.5 x 14.2 inches
47 x 36.1 cm
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This stunning engraving illustrates the Vale of Tempe in Thessalia, at the foot of Mount Olympus, a mixture of Greek myth and history. Ortelius described it as "where people dwell, meet in companies, and having done divine service and ceremonies in due form and manner, they banquet and make merry." Latin text on verso, published in 1624.

References: Van den Broecke #231.

Condition: A

A crisp impression on a bright sheet with professional repairs mostly confined to the blank margins, including a chip at top right, centerfold separations at top and bottom, a tear that just passes the neatline at top, and a tiny worm hole in the center of the image.

Estimate: $275 - $350

Sold for: $200

Closed on 4/29/2020

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