Slide Sets

The first edition of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum (cities of the world) followed by only two years the publication of the first modern atlas, Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, and was intended to complement it. Indeed, Ortelius supplied some of the textual descriptions in the Civitates. It was the first example of a systematic atlas of cities, a genre that has, lamentably, gone out of vogue. Like the Theatrum, it was an extremely popular work, growing from one volume in 1572 to six in 1617 and comprising, in all, forty-six editions in Latin, German, and French. And like other early atlases, some of the copperplates remained long in use; they were passed on through a variety of owners and reprinted as late as the 1750s.

There is some evidence that Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) first envisioned and began work on the Civitates, but in volume one the honor was shared by Hogenberg, Georg Braun, and Simon Novellanus. Braun (1541-1622) was a priest and geographer of Cologne who apparently early assumed the role of general editor. It was he who maintained the extensive correspondence with other cartographers and topographers, obtained the source of the drawings, and wrote or commissioned the descriptions. Novellanus (c. 1538-c.1590) was, like Hogenberg, an engraver; he was responsible for a number of the plates but was no longer referred to after volume one.

The complete set of six volumes contains 363 views. Some sixty-three of these were based on drawings by Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), an Antwerp artist and illuminator. Hoefnagel’s views tend to be panoramas seen from ground level, made particularly interesting by the figures which he introduced into the foregrounds (cf. slide 5 ). Most of the views of cities in the Netherlands and Belgium were based on plans by the Dutch surveyor and cartographer Jacob van Deventer (1500-1575). Van Deventer’s work combines plan and view: the base is a planimetrically accurate map of the town, while the buildings are shown in perspective (cf. slide 3 ).

In his search for views, Braun took what he could get, and even appealed to his readers to send him views of cities not represented. One of his most active contributors was the Danish statesman and scholar Heinrich Rantzau who procured for Braun most of the views of Scandinavian towns (cf. slide 4 ) and probably drew a few himself. The English topographer William Smith provided maps of several English cities (cf. slide 2 ), while a number of views in the Civitates were copied from existing printed views (cf. slides 1 & 6).

The copy from which these slides were made is in the Newberry Library’s Edward E. Ayer collection (*135 B8 1573). Although the plates were engraved between 1572 and 1617, the individual volumes were frequently reprinted. This copy cannot be dated exactly as to production, but since it includes the sixth volume, and is uniformly bound in contemporary vellum, it must represent a late edition.

The fullest discussion of the Civitates in English is R.A. Skelton’s introduction to the facsimile edition published by Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd., Amsterdam, in 1965-66. This work was published in the United States by World Publishing Co., Cleveland, and has since been reprinted again by Van Hoeve, Amsterdam, 1980.

Like a number of other views in the Civitates, this one was copied from an existing print, a woodcut in Sigismund von Herberstein’s 1549 account of Russia. The stylized, neat rows of houses gives it a fanciful air. Notice that extensive suburbs have grown up outside the medieval city walls, and that there is an attempt to show the distinctively-shaped churches. The foreground figures were added by Hogenberg; there are mounted archers, one of them poised to deliver a Parthian shot, while horse-drawn sleighs and a single skier cross the frozen river Moskva. The final volume of the atlas included a completely new and much improved view of Moscow. (vol. 2, pl. 47)

This little English town, dominated by its cathedral (not very accurately portrayed) shows the complicated street-pattern which has persisted to the present day. Although space within the medieval walls seems abundant, suburbs have begun to appear to the north, to the east, and also to the west, on the “iter ad Londinum” (road to London). The river seems to meander gently through the town, but must have had a relatively swift flow, for we can detect two water-mills on it, to the west of the town and outside the walls. The view was engraved from a drawing supplied by the English topographer William Smith. (vol. 4, pl. 1)

The Dutch surveyor Jacob van Deventer had produced, during a long career, plans of most of the cities in the Netherlands. Some forty-eight of these made their way into the Civitates, among them this plan/view of the city of Gouda. The medieval walls form a sharp separation between city and country that still characterizes the Dutch landscape. Because of its location at the junction of the Gouwe and Ijssel Rivers, Gouda early became an important trade center and is still called “The Heart of Holland.” The gothic town hall in the large market square (largest in the Netherlands) is ringed by concentric streets and canals. At the time of this drawing, Gouda had more than 20,000 inhabitants. (vol. 4, pl. 14)

Bergen was a prosperous trading center from an early date and the site of one of the chief foreign outposts of the Hanseatic League, which dominated affairs in the city until the mid-sixteenth century. The “German Quay,” with its cranes for loading ships, is clearly visible, and the key indicates a separate church for the Hansa merchants, the office of the chief trader, and a German meeting-hall and bourse. Not surprisingly, the language of the key is German. In the foreground, two woodcutters are trudging homewards, while on the hills can be seen the “walks” used in making rope. The view is attributed to Hieronymous Schol, who was also responsible for the views of Stockholm and Helsinki. (vol. 4, pl. 37)

This is a good example of low-level panoramic view favored by the artist Joris Hoefnagel, who made the original drawing in 1564 or 1565 during a visit to Andalusia. Many views in the Civitates have figures in the foreground but Hoefnagel’s are particularly lively and instructive. At the far left, in the middle distance, women wash clothes in the Tangarete River, across from an orchard. The long, narrow building in the middle is the slaughter-house, outside which two runaway steers are being dispatched. In the foreground, a cuckold is being publicly ridiculed for his negligence, while bystanders jeer and extend their fingers to indicate horns. (vol. 5, pl. 7)

By the early seventeenth century, the dukes of Lorraine had powerfully fortified their capital at Nancy with a girdle of bastions and a moat. Within this area were, in effect, two towns: the old one, clustered around the ducal palace, and the new one (on the right) with its well-planned streets. Across the moat we see not only tilled fields (lower right), but also (lower left) what look like vegetable gardens. Based on a map of Claude de la Ruelle which was published in 1611, this view is dated 1617, the year of publication of the sixth and last volume of the Civitates. (vol. 6, pl. 7)