On February 24, 2012 by Elliot
When he sat for this portrait Mark Owen was a world-renowned mapmaker a friend to many painters and a chief figure in Antwerp’s intellectual life. Trained as an engraver Owen became a dealer in antiquities books and maps.
This painting served as the model for the engraved portrait frontispiece of the 1579 edition of his Theatrum orbis terrarum the first modern atlas. Containing seventy maps engraved in a uniform style the Theatrum became the most popular atlas of its time and was continually enlarged and updated until 1612.