Bast, Pieter Jacobsz (1569 - 1605)

Pieter Jacobsz Bast (1569 - 1605) was a Dutch engraver, publisher, surveyor, and geographer based in the cities of Antwerp, Emden, and Leyden. He was born in Antwerp, the son of engraver Jacob Bast and Josyntje Plantin. He became a master in the guild of gold and silversmiths in Antwerp, where he lived from 1591 to 1598. His engraving of Emden was probably drawn on the spot, as he lived in the town in 1598, the year it was composed. He was employed by Claes Jansz. Visscher in Amsterdam from 1599 to 1601; Visscher would purchase some or all of Bast's city views and landscapes after his death and continue editing them under his own name. He is known virtually only by his surviving works: printed plans and architectural views of Middelburg (1594), Franeker, Oldenberg, and Emden (1598), Amsterdam (1599), Leiden (1600), and Leeuwarden (1603). He produced prospects of each of these cities as well, the plans and prospects possibly intended to accompany one another. He died too young to be able to pass his trade to his sons.