a Dutch painter, engraver, and mapmaker. He is known mostly for his woodcuts, especially the Bird's eye view of Amsterdam, from 1544. This was printed in 12 blocks of wood, and was recopied and reprinted as an accurate map until well into the 17th century. Unfortunately, this became severely damaged in a fire in the Amsterdam city hall in 1652, but it was restored in 1932. Many of the buildings in this painting still stand today.
