Subject: Belgium
Period: 1673 (published)
Publication: Il Teatro del Belgio
Color: Hand Color
Size:
17 x 12.5 inches
43.2 x 31.8 cm
Four uncommon fortification plans from this interesting series. Gualdo Priorato entered military service at a very young age and served in Flanders under the Prince of Orange. During his varied military career he was knighted by the King of France and the Venetian Republic, the Pope made him a Roman noble, Christina of Sweden named him First-Gentleman, and Emperor Leopold I appointed him counselor and historiographer. After his retirement, he authored several historical accounts including the Teatro del Belgio, which described the Catholic/Protestant wars in Belgium and Netherlands during the seventeenth century. His superb plans do not show the internal layout of the cities, except for showing the locations of the major churches. Instead the emphasis is on the fortification enclosure and the outworks, as well as on the surrounding site, rivers and canals. Sizes vary slightly.
References: Pollak #48.
Condition: B
Later color with a bit of bleed through. Some minor marginal flaws and some manuscript brown ink notations in blank margins.