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Mapping the Holy Land IV

New in the Trevor and Susan Chinn Collection in the Israel Museum

  • Date iconJune 5 2023 - March 19 2024
  • Curator: Ariel Tishby
  • Kay Merrill Hillman Gallery

The fourth in a series of exhibitions of early maps of the Holy Land, this special display focuses on rare and exquisite examples recently gifted to the Museum by Sir Trevor and Lady Susan Chinn.

Two large-scale panoramic maps at the center of the display illustrate the concept of "sacred geography": they offer a visual representation of the Holy Land as the stage on which significant events from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament unfolded. Several of the maps on view exhibit striking similarities, manifesting a complex “genealogy” that leads back to important early prototype maps.

The display also features extremely rare maps of Jerusalem, among them an English map dedicated to Queen Caroline, wife of King George II; two maps of Jerusalem – one in ancient times and the other in the artist’s days – by an 18th-century Viennese engraver; a French wall map; and an enigmatic Dutch map from 1586, which focuses on the Garden of Eden and the wanderings of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land.

 

Henry Overton I, English, 1676–1751
After Jan van Doetechum the Younger, Dutch, active 1592–1630
A New Map of the Land of Promise and the Holy City of Jerusalem with the Principal Scripture Histories of the Old and New Testaments…
Engraving on three sheets of paper joined together, 1717
Gift of Sir Trevor and Lady Susan Chinn, London, through British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel
Henry Overton II and John Hoole, English, both active London 1724–34
After Juan Bautista Villalpando, Spanish, active Rome, 1552–1608
A New and Exact Plan of the Ancient City of Jerusalem, in which Are Described all the Places of Note and Public Buildings, Humbly Inscribed to Her Majesty Queen Caroline  
Etching by Sutton Nichols on two sheets of paper mounted on linen, London, ca. 1730
Gift of Sir Trevor and Lady Susan Chinn, London, through British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel
Artist unknown, Dutch, 16th century
After Abraham Ortelius, Flemish, 1527–1598, and Tilemannus Stella, German, 1525–1589
Tabula Terrae Promissionis haec est, & progressionis filiorum Israel, atque Gan Eden Seu Paradisi, delineatio secundum Sacram Scripturam (This Is a Map of the Promised Land and of the Journey of the Children of Israel, and a delineation of Gan Eden, or Paradise, according to the Holy Scriptures)
Hand-colored engraving, 1586
Gift of Sir Trevor and Lady Susan Chinn, London, through British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel