Le vray Pourtraict de la ville,& Chasteau de Bloys

Francois de Belleforest (*1530 - 1583)
Antique woodcut town view of Blois, Centre-Val de Loire. Printed in Paris by Nicolas Chesneau, Michel Sonnius in 1575.

More details

Reference 11633

Sold

Description

A rare and early woodcut view of Blois, Centre-Val de Loire. Ruled in brown ink. Decorated with two cartouche on top containing the key, a coat-of-arms and many ships on the Loire. Extremely fine cut for a woodcut view.

This woodcut was published in La Cosmographie Universelle de tout le monde, printed 1575 in two volumes in Paris by Nicolas Chesneau and Michel Sonnius with the French text by Francois de Belleforest. It is a French version of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia Universalis. Most of the woodcut maps and drawings of Münster's work were discarded and new woodblocks have been made. The geographical information is mainly based on Abraham Ortelius and Braun & Hogenberg, but also comes from unknown sources. All maps and views of Paris edition by Belleforest are very rare since there was one edition in one language only. The woodcuts of the Basel edition by Seb. Münster were used in 46 different editions.

Details

CartographerFrancois de Belleforest
TitleLe vray Pourtraict de la ville,& Chasteau de Bloys
Publisher, YearNicolas Chesneau, Michel Sonnius, Paris, 1575
Plate Size26.0 x 41.3 cm (10.2 x 16.3 inches)
Sheet Size36.5 x 46.5 cm (14.4 x 18.3 inches)

Condition

Very good condition.

Cartographer

François de Belleforest was a French writer, translator and poet during the Renaissance. In 1568 he became historian of King Henry III, but had to give up soon because of inaccuracies. He worked as a writer and translator and transferred the Cosmography of Sebastian Munster into French. La Cosmographie universelle de tout le monde was published 1575 in Paris and was created in collaboration with the two Parisian publishers Nicolas Chesneau and Michel Sonnius. He has not used Sebastian Munster as sole source, several maps and views are based on Ortelius and Braun / Hogenberg, but also own work and unknown sources are found in the important work.

The picture shows the bust of Belleforest in Samatan (Gers, France). Source: Wikipedia, BastienM.

Images to Download

If you like to download the image of this map with a resolution of 1200 pixels, please follow the link below.

You can use this image for publication on your personal or commercial websites for free if you set a link to this website. If you need photographs with a higher resolution, please contact us.

Francois de Belleforest: Le vray Pourtraict de la ville,& Chasteau de Bloys.
Antique woodcut town view of Blois, Centre-Val de Loire. Printed in Paris by Nicolas Chesneau, Michel Sonnius in 1575.

France - Belleforest, Francois de - Le vray Pourtraict de la ville,& Chasteau...

Accept We use cookies to optimize and continuously improve our website. By continuing to use this website, you agree to the use of cookies. Further information on cookies can be found in our Privacy Statement.