Gravelines En flandre.

Title

Gravelines En flandre.

Description

View of the city of Grevelingen (Gravelines) in Flanders, northern France, near the Dutch border from the year 1644. The city was captured and recaptured multiple times during the Thirty Years' War. In the sky of the view, there is a banner with a title and a magnificent, captivating cartouche featuring a portrait, coat of arms, four putti, armor, and weapons. Below the view, there is a city index.

ca. 1720

Artist

Cochin der Ältere (1688-1754)

Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1688–1754) was born in Paris into a family of painters and engravers. He was a French draftsman, etcher, and engraver. Until the age of 22, Charles-Nicolas worked as a painter, after which he focused exclusively on etching and engraving. In addition to portraits, he produced engravings and etchings based on works by artists such as François Boucher, Antoine Watteau, Nicolas Lancret, and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. In his later years, he primarily worked in the workshop and print studio of his son, Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger (1715–1790), under whose leadership the enterprise became one of the most important centers for high-quality engravings in Europe.

Historical Description

Gravelines is a historic fortified town in the north of France, near the North Sea coast, situated between Dunkirk and Calais. The name originates from the Flemish "Graveninge," meaning "by the moats." Founded in the 12th century as a port town along the artificially constructed river canal "Aa," which was intended to facilitate trade between Saint-Omer and the sea. The town was long part of the County of Flanders and thus belonged to the Spanish Netherlands before it became definitively French in the 17th century. The fortifications of Gravelines became an important border fortress. In the 17th century, the town was further developed by the famous fortress architect Vauban. The Battle of Gravelines (1588) was one of the most well-known historical episodes, in which the English fleet defeated parts of the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines. Throughout the centuries, Gravelines was often the site of military conflicts between France, Spain, England, and the Netherlands.