Amsterdam; G. Braun & F. Hogenberg – Amstelredamum nobile (…) – 1572-1617

Description

Plattegrond met stadswapen. Titel en legenda in decoratieve cartouches. Op het IJ en in de havens diverse schepen. Naar een plattegrond van Cornelis Anthonisz. uit 1544.

Map with city coat of arms. Title and legend in decorative cartouches. Various ships on the IJ and in the ports. Based on a map by Cornelis Anthonisz. dated 1544.

Details

• Type: carthografische prent
• Title: Amstelredamum, Nobile Inferioris Germaniae Oppidum (..)
• Publication dates: 1572-1617
• Technique: kopergravure met oudtijdse inkleuring
• Carthographer: Cornelis Anthonisz.
• Printer: Gottfried von Kempen e.a.
• Engraver: Frans Hogenberg
• Publiced in: Civitates Orbis Terrarum – Beschreibung und Contra- factur der Vor- nembster Stät der Welt. Liber Primus door Frans Hogenberg en George Braun in Köln
• Size print:  34.0 x 48.5 cm. (13.4 x 19.1 inches)
• Size paper: 38.0 x 51.0 cm (15.0 x 20.1 inches)
• Verso: Duitse tekst
• ID: 1810 O
• Source: Koeman II B&H 7 (21) / Taschen p.78 / Fauser #360

Condition: B

Goed, gegeven de leeftijd. Middenvouw als uitgegeven met voldoende marges. Scherpe afdruk met fraaie inkleuring. Papier gebruind, met een paar vlekken.

Good, given age. Center fold as published with sufficient margins. Nice print with beautiful coloring. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling.

Backgrounds

Amsterdam

De plattlegrond geeft Amsterdam vanuit noordoostelijke richting in vogelvlucht weer. Aan de linkerkant is de monding van de Amstel afgedamd en het water in kanalen is afgevoerd en door de stad is laten stromen voordat het uitmondt in de Zuiderzee. De grachten, die werden gebruikt om geïmporteerde goederen over de hele stad te vervoeren, zijn omzoomd door privéwoningen, commerciële gebouwen en pakhuizen. In het midden van het plan zijn het oude stadhuis (Stadhuis, 21) en de naastgelegen Nieue Kerk (23) zichtbaar. De gravure geeft met zijn afbeelding van het zware scheepvaartverkeer in de haven en op de Zuiderzee een indruk van de hedendaagse omvang van de handel in de zich steeds verder uitbreidende metropool. In de 13e eeuw was Amsterdam gewoon een kleine vissershaven gebouwd op drassige grond. In 1300 kreeg het zijn stadsrechten van de bisschop van Utrecht. In 1369 werd het lid van de Hanzeverbond. Aan het begin van de 17e eeuw werd de stad het belangrijkste mondiale handelscentrum. De 17e eeuw, ook wel ‘Gouden Eeuw’, bracht niet alleen economische bloei, maar ook een bloei van wetenschappen en kunsten, die duurde tot het einde van de 17e eeuw. Tussen 1570 en 1640 groeide de Amsterdamse bevolking van ongeveer 30.000 tot bijna 140.000. Tegenwoordig telt het ongeveer 870.000 inwoners.

The plan presents Amsterdam in bird’s-eye view from a northeasterly direction. On the left-hand side the mouth of the River Amstel has been dammed and its waters channelled into canals and made to pass through the city before flowing out into the Zuiderzee. The canals, which were used to transport imported goods all over the city, are lined with private houses, commercial buildings and warehouses. In the centre of the plan, the old town hall (Stadhuis, 21) and the neighbouring Nieue Kerk (23) are recognizable. With its depiction of the heavy shipping traffic inside the harbour and on the Zuiderzee, the engraving conveys an impression of the contemporary scale of trade conducted in the continually expanding metropolis. In the 13th century Amsterdam was simply a small fishing port built on marshy ground. In 1300 it was granted its municipal charter and in 1369 became a member of the Hansa. In the beginning of the 1600s did the city established itself as the leading centre of trade and the constantly expanding hub of a global financial and commercial empire. This Golden Age brought not only an economic boom but also a flowering of the sciences and arts, which lasted until the end of the 17th century. Between 1570 and 1640 Amsterdam’s population grew from around 30,000 to almost 140,000. Ttoday it numbers around 870,000 citizens.

Translation of the text in the cartouche: Amsterdam is a well-known city in Lower Germany that has arisen in recent times to accommodate merchants and is inhabited by people engaged in trade. It is almost impossible to think of a commercial activity that is not practised here. Hence profit seeking businessmen are drawn to this city from the most far-away lands and transship various goods, first and foremost grain, to Brabant and other parts of the world. Vast riches result from trade of this kind.’

Commentary by Braun: ‘Holland is the most fertile part of the Netherlands. It is crossed by many waterways full of fish, which ensure that in the whole world there is no other landscape in which so many cities lie within such a confined area … Amongst these, Amsterdam is the noblest … It lies on the River Amstel, from which many canals lead into the city. About twice a year many ships arrive here from all over Europe, some 200 or 300 from the Netherlands, France, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and the other countries of the North. … There are also very good and experienced ship-builders here. … This city is supported on large and sturdy wooden stilts that have been driven into the bed of the water. When you see the air, the sea, the dams and the many sluices, you can easily compare the city with Venice and consider it just as fortunate.’

Frans Hogenberg & George Braun

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) was een belangrijke Vlaamse etser, carthograaf en uitgever. Hij sympathiseerde met de hervorming en vluchtte van Antwerpen naar Duitsland. In Keulen richtte hij samen met Georg Braun een cartografische drukkerij-uitgeverij op. Georg Braun (1541 – 1622) was redacteur en kanunnik van de Dom van Keulen.

Frans Hogenberg (1535 – 1590) was a Flemish and German painter, engraver, and mapmaker. He was born in Mechelen as the son of Nicolaas Hogenberg. By the end of the 1560’s Frans Hogenberg was employed upon Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in 1570; he is named as engraver of numerous maps. In 1568 he was bannend from Antwerp by the Duke of Alva and travelled to London, where he stayed a few years before emigrating to Cologne. There he immediately embarked on his two most important works, the Civitates published from 1572 and the Geschichtsblätter, which appeared in several series from 1569 until about 1587.

Georg Braun (1541 – 1622) was born in Cologne in 1541. After his studies in Cologne he entered the Jesuit Order as a novice. In 1561 he obtained his bachelor’s degree and in 1562 his Magister Artium. Although he left the Jesuit Order, he studied theology, gaining a licentiate in theology.

Civitates Orbis Terrarum

Braun en Hogenberg stelden in 1572 het stadsgezichtenboek Civitates Orbis Terrarum samen. Dit boek sloeg aan in Duitsland en raakte later overal bekend. Het zesde en laatste deel verscheen in 1617.  Het is de grootste verzameling plattegronden en illustraties die ooit is verschenen. Het boek is ontstaan tussen 1572 en 1617 en bevat 363 kaarten en stadsgezichten van alle belangrijke steden in Europa en steden in Azië, Afrika en Latijns-Amerika. Ruim honderd kunstenaars en cartografen hebben meegewerkt aan deze atlas, die niet alleen plattegronden van steden laat zien maar ook afbeeldingen van mensen in hun landelijke kleding, schepen en topografische afbeeldingen van stad en land. De atlas was bedoeld als gids voor de in 1570 verschenen wereldatlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum van Abraham Ortelius die inderdaad een aantal bladen voor zijn wereldatlas gebruikt heeft.

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or the “Braun & Hogenberg”, is a six-volume town atlas and the greatest book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully coloured. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, the sixth volume in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographer Daniel Freese, and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Cornelis Antonisz., Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Following the original publication of Volume 1 of the Civitates in 1572, the next volumes appeared in 1575, 1581, 1588, 1598 and 1617. The German translation of the first volume appeared from 1574 on and the French edition from 1575 on.

Several printers were involved: Theodor Graminaeus, Heinrich von Aich, Gottfried von Kempen, Johannis Sinniger, Bertram Buchholtz and Peter von Brachel, who all worked in Cologne.