HOEFNAGEL, Georg.

Antverpia.

      [Cologne 1575]. Double-page engraved bird's-eye plan, printed on two sheets, joined. Dimensions: 450 by 785mm. (17.5 by 31 inches). This breathtaking bird's-eye plan by Georg Hoefnagel shows his home-town of Antwerp, in Flanders, at the height of its splendour. Within impressive town walls are shown populated streets, bustling quaysides and numerous churches of varied styles, with the vast cathedral dominating the entire town. The town walls are seen heavily fortified with bastions and armaments, the arsenal is marked on the city's seaward side with the River Scheldt full of commercial and naval shipping. Hoefnagel was one of the main contributors to the Civitates ... venture and displays his skill, as one of the finest topographical artists of the day, in this magnificent engaving. Due to the size of this engraving, and subsequent folding into a folio volume this is rarely found in such good condition, here on paper of substantial thickness. Printed from two printing plates, first published in Cologne in volume V of Braun and Hogenberg's monumental Civitates Orbis Terrarum and here re-issued with the imprint of Amsterdam publishers Covens and Mortier.