Nanceium. Nancy.

Title

Nanceium. Nancy.

Description

Map depicts a bird’s-eye view of Nancy and its fortifications in Lorraine, France. It also features a title banner, a coat of arms, and an index cartouche listing locations numbered 1 - 27.

ca. 1650

Artist

Merian Matthäus (1593-1650)

Matthäus Merian (1593 – 1650) , born in Basel, learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He married his daughter, Maria Magdalena 1617. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, only to return three years later to Frankfurt, where Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death in 1623. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He is the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who later published her the famous and wellknown studies of flowers, insects and butterflies.

Historical Description

Nancy is a historic city in northeastern France and the former capital of the Duchy of Lorraine. During the Middle Ages, Nancy developed into an important political center of Lorraine. The city is especially famous for the Place Stanislas, created in the 18th century under Stanislaus Leszczyński, former King of Poland and Duke of Lorraine. In 1766, after Stanislaus’s death, Lorraine officially became part of France. Today, Nancy is renowned for its 18th-century architecture and Art Nouveau heritage.