Leipzig – Lipsia Litterarum.. ; G. Braun & F. Hogenberg – 1575-1617

Description

Details

• Type: carthographic print
• Title: Lipsia Litterarum Studiis et Mercatura Celebre Misniae Oppidum.
• Publication: 1575-1617
• Technique: copper engraving, with contemporary coloring
• Carthographer: –
• Engraver: Frans Hogenberg e.a.
• Publiced in: Civitates Orbis Terrarum.. Liber Primus door Frans Hogenberg en George Braun in Köln
• Printer: Gottfried von Kempen, Bertram Buchholtz, Theodor Graminaeus e.a.
• Size print:  16.0 x 48.0 cm. (6.3 x 18.9 inches)
• Size paper: 21.7 x 56.0 cm (8.5 x 20.0 inches)
• Verso: French text
• ID: M0310G
• Source: Koeman II B&H 13 [28]/ Taschen p. 86 / Fauser #7440

Condition: A

Sehr gut, dem Alter entsprechend. Mittelfalz wie ausgegeben mit breiten Rändern. Schöne Färbung. Altersbedingte Tonung und/oder vereinzelte kleinere Mängel durch Handhabung.

Very good, given age. Center fold as issued with wide margins. Beautiful coloring. Age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. 

Leipzig

Translation of the title: ‘Leipzig, famous town of the sciences and trade in the land of Meissen.’

This plate shows the city around 1570 from a very low position, with three horsemen in the left foreground as a reference to the horse market. After receiving market privileges in the year 1165, Leipzig developed into a leading trade-fair centre, achieving fame across Europe after having been awarded imperial trade-fair rights in 1497.

Commentary by George Braun: ‘Leipzig is not a very big town, but it surpasses many another city, both German and princely. For there are many merchants here who hold a fair in the town three times a year […]. This town possesses many large stone houses, all panelled in wood inside and decorated with paintings outside. A council of learned men meets in Leipzig in order to pass judgement on the disputes that are brought before them […]. It also possesses a splendid university, which was transferred from Prague to here in 1408. For when the Germans refused to accept the new teachings of Hus that were spread in Prague, over 2,000 students and their teachers left in a single day and went to Leipzig and resumed their studies there.’

Frans Hogenberg & George Braun

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) was een belangrijke Vlaamse carthograaf. 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 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, 1596 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.