Map Holy Land La Terre Sainte Engraved van Loon Published N de Fer 1703 French

La Terre Sainte, The Holy Land, Tiree Des Memoires De M.De.La Rue. Par N. de Fer. Geographe de Sa Majeste Catoliq et de Monseigneur le Dauphin. Avec Privil du Roi 1703

Detailed map of the Holy Land from Nicholas de Fer's L'Atlas Curieux ou le Monde. East is oriented at the top.

MAKER Nicolas de Fer 1646-1720 The French cartographer and engraver, Nicolas de Fer, was a master at creating maps that were works of art. The maps that he published were printed during the Baroque period when the decorative arts were characterized by ornate detail. De Fer's detailed maps and atlases were valued more for their decorative content than their geographical accuracy.

Nicolas de Fer was born in 1646. His father, Antoine de Fer, owned a mapmaking firm. At the age of twelve, Nicolas was apprenticed to a Parisian engraver named Louis Spirinx. The family business was starting to decline when his father died in 1673. Nicolas de Fer's mother, Genevieve, took over the business after the death of her husband. In 1687 the business was passed on to Nicolas and the profits increased after he took over the firm. Nicolas de Fer was a prolific cartographer who produced atlases and hundreds of single maps. He eventually became the official geographer to King Louis XIV of France and King Philip V of

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