Acquired From: Leen Helmink
Colouring: Coloured
Condition: Fair (Damage in sky)
Confirmed: Yes
Date Acquired: 10/3/2023
Description: The Civitates orbis terrarum (Cities of the World) is a monumental six-volume series of city views and plans, conceived as a cartographic and cultural companion to Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum orbis terrarum (for the 1584 edition View Record (#252)). The project was initiated by the Cologne cleric and scholar Georg Braun (15411622) and engraved largely by Frans Hogenberg (c. 15351590). The first volume was published in 1572, followed by successive volumes in 1575, 1581, 1588, 1598, and 16171618.nBraun authored the prefaces and descriptive texts for the first five volumes, while Hogenberg and his workshop produced the majority of the engravings. After Hogenbergs death, the project was continued by his son Abraham Hogenberg, in collaboration with the publisher Anton Hierat. The series was widely reprinted into the seventeenth century, often without significant revision, attesting to its enduring popularity and authority.nAlthough best known for its detailed city views, the Civitates is also notable for its allegorical title pages, which frame urban geography within broader moral, religious, and political narratives. They often engage directly with the confessional conflicts and geopolitical tensions of early modern Europe, positioning cities not merely as physical spaces, but as actors within a contested cultural and ideological landscape.nThis title page is from Volume 4, which portrays seven classical figures arranged around a stone altar on which the title is inscribed. Seated atop the altar is Honos (Honour), interpreted here as Apollo, the sun god, crowned with laurel. He holds a palm frond in one hand and a second laurel wreath in the othersymbols of virtue and earned triumph.nAt either side of the altar stand Constantia (Constancy), leaning against a stone column symbolising steadfastness, and Dignitas (Dignity), crowned and holding a sceptre and orb to reflect moral and political authority. Below them are four further personifications representing key civic and moral virtues. On the left, Pax (Peace) carries an olive branch, and Justicia (Justice) balances scales. On the right, Diligentia (Diligence) holds a golden spur, a symbol of honour through labour, while Sapientia (Wisdom) bears a book, alluding to learned governance.nThis allegorical scheme articulates a Renaissance vision of the city as a moral and civilised space governed by virtuous leadership and sustained by peace, wisdom, and industriousness. As with other volumes in the Civitates series, the title page not only introduces the urban views that follow but also frames them within a broader intellectual and ethical frameworkan idealised vision of the city as a reflection of divine order and human virtue.
Engraver: Hogenberg, Frans (1535-1590)
First published: Civitates orbis terrarum Vol. 4, Cologne: Petrus à Brachel, 1588
Image Size (cm): 23×36
Mapmaker: Braun, Georg (1541-1622) and Hogenberg, Frans (1535-1590)
Price: 700
Primary Category: Titlepage
Purchase Reference: Email 11 March 2023. LEdger
References: On the publication of the Civitates orbis terrarum, see Peter van der Krogt, Koemans Atlantes Neerlandici: The Town Atlases: Braun & Hogenberg, Janssonius, Blaeu, De Wit, Mortier and Others, vol. 4, Parts 1, 21. and 2.2, Koemans Atlantes Neerlandici (Utrecht: Hes & De Graaf, 2010), 35178. nR. A. Skelton, Introduction, in Civitates Orbis Terrarum, 1st ser. vol. 1 (Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1966), viixxiii; Tine Luk Meganck, Erudite Eyes: Artists and Antiquarians in the Circle of Abraham Ortelius (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 133. nPeter van der Krogt, Mapping the Towns of Europe: The European Towns in Braun & Hogenbergs Town Atlas, 1572-1617, Belgeo [Online] 34 (2008): 37198.
Sheet size (cm): 40.5×27
Shirley ID #: Not in Courtiers and Cannibals
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: First
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