Danckerts Family

The Danckerts family (fl. 1628 - 1717) were a Dutch engraving and cartographic publishing firm active in Amsterdam during the latter half of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The firm was founded by Cornelis Dankerts II (1603-1656) and his brother Dancker Danckerts (1614-16?). Cornelius and Dancker published few maps, but did pass the business on to Cornelius' son Justus Danckerts (1635 - 1701) and grandsons Theodorus Danckerts (1663-1727) and Cornelius Danckerts III (1664-1717). The firm was most active in this period between 1680 and 1700 when a number of atlases and maps appeared bearing either the Justus Danckerts or Theodorus Danckerts imprint. At the time, it was in vogue in Amsterdam to leave maps undated, which makes Danckerts maps particularly difficult to ascribe. Similarly, there is a considerable corpus of maps signed as Cornelius Danckerts. When dated we can correctly attribute these to either Cornelius II or Cornelius III, though, typically, most are undated and consequently difficult to attach to the correct Danckerts family member. The Danckerts family is well known for its highly detailed and graphic engraving style. In addition to numerous atlas maps, they also produced a number of spectacular Dutch wall maps. In the early 18th century, the Danckerts map plates were purchased by R. and J. Ottens, who reprinted many of them under their own imprint. (Ref: Keuning, J., "Cornelis Danckerts and his "Niew Aerdsh Pleyn"", Imago Mundi, Vol. 12 (1955), pp. 136-139.)