Metz.

Title

Metz.

Description

A detailed bird’s-eye view of the city of Metz in Lorraine, featuring a title, a coat-of-arms cartouche, a compass rose and a index from 1 to 48.

ca. 1643

Artist

Merian (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

Metz was founded in antiquity as a Roman city and developed into an important center of trade and administration. In the Middle Ages, Metz was a free imperial city within the Holy Roman Empire. Due to its location, the city was repeatedly contested between Germany and France and changed hands several times. After the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Metz became part of the German Empire, but returned to France after the First World War.