Matthäus Merian der Ältere (or "Matthew", "the Elder", or "Sr."; 22 September 1593 - 19 June 1650) was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

-born engraver who worked in Frankfurt for most of his career, where he also ran a publishing house.

Early life and marriage

Born in Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

, Merian learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zürich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

. He next worked and studied in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, Nancy, and Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry, who was the son of renowned engraver and traveler Theodor de Bry.

In 1617, Merian married Maria Magdalena de Bry, daughter of the publisher. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, but three years later returned to Frankfurt. They had numerous children together, including a daughter, Anna Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian was a naturalist and scientific illustrator who studied plants and insects and made detailed paintings about them...

, born in 1647. She became a pioneering naturalist

Naturalist

Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

 and illustrator. Two of their sons followed Merian into publishing.

Later career

In 1623 Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He spent most of his working life in Frankfurt.

Early in his life, he had created detailed town plans in his unique style, e.g. the plan of Basel (1615). With Martin Zeiler (1589 - 1661), a German geographer, and later (circa 1640) with his own son, Matthäus Merian (der Jüngere, i.e. "the Younger" or "Jr.") (1621 - 1687), he produced a series of Topographia. The 21-volume set was collectively known as the Topographia Germaniae. It includes numerous town plans and views, as well as maps of most countries and a World Map—it was such a popular work that it was re-issued in many editions. He also took over and completed the later parts and editions of the Grand Voyages and Petits Voyages, originally started by de Bry in 1590.

Merian's work inspired the Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna

Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna

Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna, or Ancient and Modern Sweden, is the title of a large work of engravings, collected by Erik Dahlbergh in the middle of the 17th century...

 by Erik Dahlberg

Erik Dahlberg

Count Erik Jönsson Dahlbergh was a Swedish engineer, soldier, and field marshal, called the "Vauban of Sweden".- Life :...

. The German travel magazine Merian

Merian (magazine)

Merian is a German travel magazine. It was founded in 1948 and is published by Jahreszeiten Verlag in Hamburg. Each issue of this monthly print publication is devoted to a specific city or region. It is named after Matthäus Merian.-External links:* *...

 is named after him.

Matthäus Merian died after several years of illness in 1650 in Bad Schwalbach

Bad Schwalbach

Bad Schwalbach is the district seat of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany.- Geographic Location :Bad Schwalbach is a spa town some 20 km northwest of Wiesbaden. It lies at 289 to 465 m above sea level in the Taunus, along the small river Aar...

, near Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

.

After his death, his sons Matthäus Jr. and Caspar took over the publishing house. They continued publishing the Topographia Germaniae and the Theatrum Europaeum

Theatrum Europaeum

Theatrum Europaeum was a journal on the history of the German-speaking lands by Matthäus Merian, published between 1633 and 1738 in 21 quarto volumes.-External links:* - online copy at the university of Augsburg...

 under the name Merian Erben (i.e. Merian Heirs).

External links

• "Works by Matthäus Merian", Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
• America noviter delineata, 1633 map by Matthäus Merian, Portal to Texas History, University of Texas
• Merian maps and engravings