1642 MERIAN / BEEK, A. _- Very rare view of the town of Calbe a.d. Saale. Mrs. Anna Beek enlarged the print and mounted it on larger paper; she colored it in pastel colors.

Very decorative and rare panoramic town view of the town of Calbe a.d. Saale, near Magdeburg.

The engraver and publisher of prints, Mrs. Anna Beek of the Hague, enlarged the print and mounted it on larger paper: she colored it in pastel colors, adding extensive clouds and brilliant yellow borders. This way of enlarging prints is also known from the famous Van der Hem/Prinz Eugen Atlas and those in the former Royal print collection kept in Jemniste in Czechoslovakia.

Very rare.


Anna Westerstee, also known as Anna Beek (born The Hague, 25 November 1657 - died The Hague after October 1717), was a publisher of prints. Daughter of Frederick of Westerstee and Anna van Alphen. Anna Westerstee was married on the first day of May 1678 in The Hague to Barent Beek (1654 - August 1713), who was an art dealer and publisher. From this marriage were born three daughters and four sons.

On the background of Anna Westerstee is not much known, apart from the fact that her parents were married on 10 January 1652 in The Hague. After her marriage to Barent Beek, Anna became active as a publisher.
The couple published engraved topographical maps, plans, and views of The Hague, and they also produced colored prints. Anna signed her prints "Anna van Beek excudit" (issued by Anna van Beek).

Anna Beek is mentioned in various reference books as an engraver. Published prints are held in the collection "Atlas van Stolk" and the Municipal Archive of The Hague; the engraver of these prints is usually Jan van Vianen.

The Library of Congress holds a volume with a collection of Plans of Fortifications and Battles, 1709, and is known as the "Anna Beek Collection", because Anna Beek published many, and most likely she colored these prints.

Provenance: Anna Beek was commissioned by King Willem III of Orange between 1690 and 1700 and produced for him a collection of 10 volumes of plates. The 10 volumes are bound in richly gilded bindings and have all the Dutch Royal coat-of-arms.

Mrs. Anna Beek enlarged each of the prints and mounted them on larger paper: she colored them in pastel colors, adding extensive clouds and brilliant yellow borders. This way of enlarging prints is also known from the famous Van der Hem/Prinz Eugen Atlas and those in the former Royal print collection kept in Jemniste in Czechoslovakia.

These volumes came on the market in the 1960s and were split up and sold in the European trade in the 1960s.
The volumes with Dutch views eventually were acquired by the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam from the Amsterdam antiquarian map and book dealer Nico Israel. The other volumes were sold to German, French and Spanish dealers.

King William III and Queen Mary II, both Protestants, became joint rulers of the Netherlands in 1689. William was appointed Stadtholder (chief magistrate) and captain-general of the Dutch forces in 1672 to resist the French invasion of the Netherlands. He forced Louis XIV to make peace in 1678 and then concentrated on building up a European alliance against France.
In 1677, he married his cousin Mary, the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, the future James II. The marriage was intended to repair relations between England and the Netherlands following the Anglo-Dutch wars.

William III was a well-known collector of paintings. The collection of Stadholder-King William III went under the hammer in Amsterdam on 26 July 1713. Organized by the renowned art collector and agent Jan van Beuningen with the assistance of Jan Pietersz. Zomer, the foremost Amsterdam art broker, the auction was a virtual society event attended by a host of Dutch regents, agents and diplomats as well as European noblemen and princes.

More Anna Beek prints are available.

Explokart, Kaarthistorie deel 3 contains the first detailed inventory of works published by Anna Beek. Compiled by Iris Blokker, with 96 pages, 50 illustrations in color and b/w. 
ISBN: 9789462587052

BUY : WBOOKS

Iris Blokker is an art historian. She wrote this study on Anna Beek during a fellowship at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. Previously, she worked as a junior curator at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. She studied art history and completed the dual master's program in Curating Art and Cultures at the University of Amsterdam.