# Gerhard Mercator artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/gerhard-mercator/
Profile generated: 2026-08-19T16:55:39.112Z
Quality: medium confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1512-03-05
- Death date: 1594-12-02
- Nationality: Flemish
- Common media: Cartographic works and maps, Engraving, Works on paper and prints, Globes and scientific instruments

## Portrait

![Gerhard Mercator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Gerardus_Mercator2.jpg/1280px-Gerardus_Mercator2.jpg)
Frans Hogenberg · Public domain
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerardus_Mercator2.jpg

## About Gerhard Mercator

Gerhard Mercator (1512–1594), also catalogued as Gerardus or Gerard Mercator and Gerhard Kremer, was a Flemish cartographer, geographer, cosmographer, and mathematician. He is best known for his 1569 world map and the projection that carries his name, an approach designed to show constant-bearing sailing courses as straight lines. Authority records also identify Mercator as an engraver, calligrapher, and maker of globes and scientific instruments, placing his output at the intersection of geographic scholarship, printmaking, and precision craft. Library catalogues preserve numerous forms of his name and document atlas and cosmographical publications associated with him. Collectors may therefore encounter Mercator through maps and atlas material, engravings and other works on paper, globes, or scientific instruments rather than through a single conventional fine-art medium. Reliable identification depends on the object's title, format, publication information, date, inscriptions, and relationship to documented editions.

## Common works and media

Commonly relevant work types include cartographic publications and maps, atlas and cosmographical publications, engravings, works on paper and prints, globes, and scientific instruments. Auction databases may place matched objects in broader decorative-art or edition categories. An appraisal should record the exact title, publication date, format, dimensions, inscriptions, edition or plate information, condition, provenance, and stated attribution.

## Market and appraisal context

Mercator's auction record should be assessed lot by lot. Appraisily's matched index covers several broad categories and explicitly describes the category concentration as broad or sparse, making an overall market summary less reliable than close comparison. The most useful comparables align in medium, dimensions, date, edition or issue, condition, provenance, inscriptions, and attribution confidence. For maps and atlas-related material, publication context and completeness may also help distinguish superficially similar objects. Because authority files preserve numerous variants of Mercator's name, the presence of a familiar name alone does not establish period authorship or authenticity. Public auction results provide a reference point, but examination of the specific object remains essential.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research with matched auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Public records may be incomplete and should be interpreted alongside object-specific evidence.

## Sources

- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/030345154
- Bibliothèque nationale de France: https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb12789989j
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/30352476/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6353
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500040876
- British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG74875
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerardus_Mercator
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/gerhard-mercator/
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerardus_Mercator2.jpg