Cities frozen in time: The evolution of city iconography in the early modern era
By Stephan Füssel. Excerpt from the book 'Cities of the World'
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As Nadin Kirsten has shown, the Civitates can be read as a history of fashion in 16th-century Europe. Thus the Spaniard in the view of Barcelona, for example, is dressed in a doublet with a stiff collar and epaulettes, and has short hair and a goatee. The Italian lady in the view of Rome wears a high ruff and a dress with a low neckline; a veil fastened to her hair falls all the way down to the ground. She holds a fancy handkerchief in her hand as an accessory. In the city view of Paris the gentleman is wearing a so-called Spanish cape with a stiff collar and epaulettes over a heavily padded doublet and hose finishing just below the knee. The ladies standing so stiffly are evidently wearing corsets and close-fitting ruffs. The depiction of the men and women in the London plate is based on the view of London in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia: all four wear high ruffs, and one of the men is dressed in a fur coat that falls to his ankles. The figures in the view of Cologne were taken from Weigel and represent Cologne noblewomen. The woman on the left wears an unwaisted overgarment with puffed shoulders and a ruff. She has twisted her hair up into horns, over which she wears a cap, and holds a fancy handkerchief in her right hand. The woman with the broad hat in the middle is wearing a waisted dress with an apron; she holds her train with her left hand and fingers the brim of her bonnet with her right.
Overall it can be seen that the pioneering works of Braun and Hogenberg occupy an impressive place in the history of the vedutà in the 17th and 18th century. Both the plan views from a bird's-eye perspective, employed in the Civitates for the first time in such numbers and with such mastery, and the city prospects – their accuracy made possible by the increasingly perfected technique of etching – with their wealth of additional details, together created a real picture of Europe such as had never been achieved before and which was drawn "from nature". The Civitates thereby surpassed all previous city atlases in its wealth of detail, its depiction of the topographical setting of the cities, its architectural precision and the harmony of the overall composition.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
As Nadin Kirsten has shown, the Civitates can be read as a history of fashion in 16th-century Europe. Thus the Spaniard in the view of Barcelona, for example, is dressed in a doublet with a stiff collar and epaulettes, and has short hair and a goatee. The Italian lady in the view of Rome wears a high ruff and a dress with a low neckline; a veil fastened to her hair falls all the way down to the ground. She holds a fancy handkerchief in her hand as an accessory. In the city view of Paris the gentleman is wearing a so-called Spanish cape with a stiff collar and epaulettes over a heavily padded doublet and hose finishing just below the knee. The ladies standing so stiffly are evidently wearing corsets and close-fitting ruffs. The depiction of the men and women in the London plate is based on the view of London in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia: all four wear high ruffs, and one of the men is dressed in a fur coat that falls to his ankles. The figures in the view of Cologne were taken from Weigel and represent Cologne noblewomen. The woman on the left wears an unwaisted overgarment with puffed shoulders and a ruff. She has twisted her hair up into horns, over which she wears a cap, and holds a fancy handkerchief in her right hand. The woman with the broad hat in the middle is wearing a waisted dress with an apron; she holds her train with her left hand and fingers the brim of her bonnet with her right.
Overall it can be seen that the pioneering works of Braun and Hogenberg occupy an impressive place in the history of the vedutà in the 17th and 18th century. Both the plan views from a bird's-eye perspective, employed in the Civitates for the first time in such numbers and with such mastery, and the city prospects – their accuracy made possible by the increasingly perfected technique of etching – with their wealth of additional details, together created a real picture of Europe such as had never been achieved before and which was drawn "from nature". The Civitates thereby surpassed all previous city atlases in its wealth of detail, its depiction of the topographical setting of the cities, its architectural precision and the harmony of the overall composition.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Braun/Hogenberg, Cities of the World
Hardcover, 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in.), 520 pages
$ 200.00
$ 200.00
The complete reprint of all 363 color plates from Braun and Hogenberg's survey of town maps, city views, and plans of Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America. First published in Cologne 1572-1617. Printed from a rare and superbly preserved original set of six volumes, belonging to the Historische Museum in Frankfurt
View of London, Great Britain