Brabantiae Belgarum provinciae recens exactaque descriptio

BRABANTIAE BELGARUM PROVINCIAE RECENS EXACTAQUE DESCRIPTIO VENETIIS.

Etching with engraving, 1567, printed on contemporary laid paper with “Anchor in double outline with star” (cf. Woodward 159-167), with margins, very good condition. A fine example of the first state (of three, cf. Bifolco-Ronca, p. 800).

The map depicts Brabant (Flemish Brabant), a historic region now divided between Belgium and the Netherlands. It comes from the manuscript of Jacob van Deventer, presented at the Council of Brabant on 20 December 1536, as shown by the archives of the regional assembly. A printed map, derived from the manuscript, would appear to be published in Malines in 1542, but no copy is known. So, the first printed map known is made by Francesco Tramezzino (Venice, 1556 cf. Bifolco-Ronca, tav. 280).

This map engraved by Olgiato for the publisher Bolognino Zaltieri, is a direct replica of the Italian versions of Tramezzino and Camocio . The work, therefore, is part of the dynamics of commercial rivalry between Venetian printers, making no cartographic changes and repeating errors and omissions of the previous works. There are three issue on the plate, we believe we made it at most within a decade; some specimens have no date (1567), others of the Zaltieri signature and, finally, others still bear both signature and date. The succession of states that scholars reconstruct differently is not very clear. We believe that the one without date, abraded after the name of the engraver Girolamo Olgiato, constitutes the last edition.

Literature: Bifolco-Ronca (2018): Tav. 282 I/III; Van der Heijden (1998): p. 36; Karrow (1993): n.
25/1.5; Tooley (1939): n. 145 & 146.