MASTERPIECE

To this day, Marcus Gheeraerts owes much of his fame to this map, even though he was mainly active as a painter of portraits and religious images and a designer of prints with a strong link to rhetoricians. A map might seem difficult to incorporate within such an oeuvre, but in 16th-century Bruges it was precisely the painters, united in the image-makers and saddlers guild, who practised cartography. According to the agreements in force, they had the right to paint visual images in various media. Moreover, they were trained in the use of linear perspective and the painting and drawing of realistic images.

The map was restored in 2016-17. Want to know more about it? Visit this link.