Civitates Avenionis Omnimq viarum et aedificiorum eius perfecta delineatio

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Original antique copper engraving, uncolored. Published in Matthaeus Merian's „Topographia Galliae". This is an attractive bird's-eye plan of Avignon, with the famous bridge in the background. Matthäus Merian was born as the son of the saw miller and councilor Walther Merian. After attending high school, he learned drawing, engraving and etching from the Zurich engraver Friedrich Meyer. From 1610 to 1615 he studied and worked in Strasbourg (with Friedrich Brentel), Nancy and Paris (with Jacques Callot). His large Basel city plan was created in Basel in 1615. After his travels via Augsburg, Stuttgart and the Netherlands, Merian came to Frankfurt am Main and Oppenheim in 1616, where he worked for the publisher and engraver Johann Theodor de Bry; de Bry owned an engraving shop in Oppenheim and a publishing house in Frankfurt, where large travel books on the Far Eastern countries were prepared at the time. In 1617 Merian married Maria Magdalena de Bry, his employer's daughter. During this time he also worked for the engraver and publisher Eberhard Kieser. In 1620 he moved back to his hometown of Basel, where he acquired guild rights and became self-employed. After his father-in-law's death (1623), he continued his publishing house in Frankfurt and acquired Frankfurt citizenship in 1626. In 1627 he took Wenzel Hollar into his workshop as a student. After his wife's death (1645), Merian married Johanna Sibylla Heim in 1646. From his first marriage there are three daughters (Susanna Barbara, Margaretha and Maria Magdalena) and three sons: the two Matthäus Merian the Younger and Caspar Merian, who also work in his workshop, as well as Joachim. The second marriage resulted in the daughter Maria Sibylla Merian, the natural scientist and artist. Matthäus Merian died after a long illness on June 19, 1650 in Langenschwalbach near Wiesbaden. He was buried in the Peterskirchhof in Frankfurt. After his death, his sons Matthäus and Caspar took over the publishing house and continued to publish his works under the name Merian Erben. (wikipedia)