Joseph Mulder

Who is Joseph Mulder?

Joseph Mulder, was a Dutch Golden Age printmaker, known as a "renowned engraver".

An engraving by Mulder illustrates the title page of the 1700 edition, published in Leiden, of Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo. This engraving shows Aristotle, Ptolemy and Copernicus. Mulder worked abroad as well, and produced an engraving of Vienna from a bird's-eye view, in nine prints each measuring one by two feet.

Along with Pieter Sluyter, he did many of the etchings for the classic book Insects of Surinam based on field drawings done by Maria Sibylla Merian. This book, published in 1726, has been described as "magnificent" and included early scientific study of the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies.

The book Figures de la Bible a La Haye, published in 1728 in The Hague, has an etching by Mulder portraying Adam and Eve as "happy, childlike lovers" with Genesis 2:25 inscribed in six languages: German, Dutch, Hebrew, Latin, English and French. The English translation is "Adam and Eve were both naked and were not ashamed."

Mulder's etchings are actively collected today.