Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg [Strasbourg] Argentoratum

[Strasbourg] Argentoratum

The views from George Braun and Frans Hogenberg’s landmark Civitates orbis terrarum, completed in Cologne between 1572 and 1618, are among the most beautiful and important images of Renaissance cities. The Civitates was the first extensive series of town views that treated its subject matter in an accurate and meaningful way. Earlier collections of town views were far more limited in scope, and often made no real attempt to render the subject city with any degree of realism being simply a record of the existence of a town. Certainly the striking beauty and accuracy of Braun and Hogenberg’s production was entirely unprecedented. Earlier collections contained no more than a handful of views, usually only of the more important cities, while the Civitates contained literally hundreds of views, including many of smaller towns for which no earlier views are known. Even for the larger, important cities, the Civitates is of the utmost importance to the history of their topography. Braun and Hogenberg envisioned this massive collection as a companion work to the Theatrum orbis terrarum, the first modern atlas, published by Abraham Ortelius in Antwerp from 1570. Indeed, Hogenberg had first-hand knowledge of that impressive and influential work, having been commissioned by Ortelius to engrave many of the plates for the maps it included. It took over forty years to collect all of the hundred of plans contained in the volumes that form the complete Civitates. The text was compiled and written by Braun, the Canon of Cologne Cathedral, and a total of five hundred views were eventually included. The majority of the engraving was completed by Hogenberg and Simon Novellanus, many after drawings by Joris Hoefnagel, a talented topographical artist. The artistic merit of this particular plate is extremely high, and it reflects many of the same high standards of quality, in terms of color and decoration, that characterizes the maps of Ortelius. Embellished in the style of north European Renaissance art, it contains splendid examples of ornate strapwork and fretwork cartouches, a heraldic crest, a medallion, and perhaps most importantly, costumed figures that exhibit the regional fashions of the day. Legend holds that these charming figures were added to prevent the export of the book to the Islamic world, where artistic representation of the human figure was prohibited.