De planeet Jupiter en zijn invloed op de wereld 1585

This engraving of ‘The Planet Jupiter and its Influence on the World’ was made by Johann Sadeler I around 1585. It shows the classical god Jupiter in his chariot, riding high above a detailed landscape. Jupiter was associated with kingship, justice and good order. In this image, he is presented as a benevolent ruler, overseeing the world and its inhabitants. The cities below are neatly arranged. It's no accident that Sadeler has chosen to depict a prosperous, well-ordered society, reflecting the values of the European elite at the time. This was an era of exploration and expansion, with powerful institutions and individuals seeking to impose their vision of order on the world. The very act of creating and circulating images like this was a way of reinforcing those values, and asserting control over the representation of society. To understand this print more fully, we can look at contemporary texts on astrology, politics, and social order, finding how they relate to the values expressed in the image.