Plattegrond van IJlst met stadsgezicht 1664

This is Jacob van Meurs's "Plattegrond van IJlst met stadsgezicht," an undated etching. The first impression is the dominance of line and form. The composition is split into two registers: the upper showing a long view of the city, and the lower, a detailed plan. Van Meurs meticulously renders the city’s layout in this lower view. We observe the structured arrangements of houses and streets, with the river snaking through the center. The uniformity of the buildings creates a patterned effect, disrupted only by the larger, more detailed rendering of the church. Van Meurs employs a semiotic system: the lines and shapes act as signs representing real-world elements. The aerial perspective in the lower half flattens the city, turning architecture into abstract forms. This combination of detailed representation and abstraction encapsulates the tension between experience and knowledge, a tension that underscores much of 17th-century Dutch cartography. The artist thus presents not just a map, but a statement about perception, representation, and control.