Matthaeus Greuter (1564–1638), known in Italian as Matteo Greuter, was a German etcher and engraver who worked in Rome. He is known for his cartographical prints. Born in Strasbourg, Greuter worked in France, in Avignon and Lyon. Apparently to escape the "strong intellectual and commercial pressure of Dutch cartographic publishing",Dahl, Edward, Gauvin Jean-Francois,''Sphaerae Mundi'', David M. Stewart Museum, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2000, pp. 125-30. in 1606 he went to Rome where he produced works for Cardinal

Scipione Borghese Scipione Borghese (; 1 September 1577 – 2 October 1633) was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini. His legacy is the establ ...

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

, for the Accademia dei Lincei, and

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...

. He created the copperplate etchings of sunspots for Galileo's ''

Letters on Sunspots '' Letters on Sunspots '' (''Istoria e Dimostrazioni intorno alle Macchie Solari'') was a pamphlet written by Galileo Galilei in 1612 and published in Rome by the Accademia dei Lincei in 1613. In it, Galileo outlined his recent observation of dark ...

'' and the illustrations for

Christoph Scheiner Christoph Scheiner SJ (25 July 1573 (or 1575) – 18 June 1650) was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt. Biography Augsburg/Dillingen: 1591–1605 Scheiner was born in Markt Wald near Mindelheim in Swabia, earlier markgra ...

's ''Rosa Ursina.'' Greuter is best known for his plans and maps. He created architectural prints depicting

Villa Mondragone Villa Mondragone is a patrician villa originally in the territory of the Italian comune of Frascati (Latium, central Italy), now in the territory of Monte Porzio Catone ( Alban Hills). It lies on a hill 416m above sea-level, in an area call ...

, Villa Parisi and other notable buildings. He also produced a large number of maps, most notably those designed to be used for globes. His first globe map of the world was created in 1632 and was dedicated to Jacobo Boncompagno. It was based on an earlier globe by

Willem Blaeu Willem Janszoon Blaeu (; 157121 October 1638), also abbreviated to Willem Jansz. Blaeu, was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher. Along with his son Johannes Blaeu, Willem is considered one of the notable figures of the Netherlandi ...

. The inclusion of

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

indicates that he updated the design to take account of new discoveries, as the island was not known to Blaeu, but was documented by another map maker in Rome. He made a "celestial globe" depicting the constellations in 1635, also based on Blaeu, who had used the data of

Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was ...

. Again he appears to have updated the globe. He also designed reduced-size globes between 1636 and 1638. Other works were book frontispieces, portraits and allegorical designs.Victor Beyer, « Matthias Greuter, Greuther », in ''Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne'', vol. 13, p. 1282 His satirical print of "Doctor Wurmbrandt" purging human follies was later adapted by

Martin Droeshout Martin Droeshout (; April 1601 – c.1650) was an English engraver of Flemish descent, who is best known as illustrator of the title portrait for William Shakespeare's collected works, the First Folio of 1623, edited by John Heminges a ...

.British Printed Images to 1700
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greuter, Matthaeus 1564 births 1638 deaths German engravers 17th-century cartographers Artists from Strasbourg