Bruges, Antique Map from "Civitates Orbis Terrarum"

Braun G., Hogenberg F., " Bruges ", from the collection " Civitates Orbis Terrarum" , Cologne, T. Graminaeus, 1572-1617. Image Dim: cm 32 x 46.5 , Dim: cm 40.5 x 52.5 .

Hand-colored aquatint representing a map of the City of Bruges, capital of West Flanders . Very good conditions , with a little medial fold, some stains and a browned paper.

From the  “Civitates Orbis Terrarum” ( Atlas of Cities of the World),  the second oldest printed atlas in the history of world cartography and the first atlas totally dedicated to topographical views . The first volume of this collection was published in Cologne in 1572; the others following in 1575, 1581, 1588 and 1598. The sixth and final volume appeared in 1617, just before the extensive devastation wreaked by the Thirty Years’War.

“ The most original and magnificent of all city-atlases, which drew on the work of accomplished topographical artists; and…reproduced it in pictorial compositions of great charm and individuality”. R.A.Skelton