Plan de la Ville, et Chateau, de Bethune, Assiegee par les Allies.

Title

Plan de la Ville, et Chateau, de Bethune, Assiegee par les Allies.

Description

Map depicts a military fortification and siege plan of the city and castle of Béthune. It shows the city, its fortifications, the surrounding terrain, and the military positions and siege works of the Allied forces during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1710. Index from A to H. Based on a drawing by the military engineer Meyer (Daniel Meyer, 1671–1710). Engraved by Nicolas Visscher, with printing privilege, and published by Anna Beek in The Hague, from the series "Plans de fortifications et de batailles".

ca. 1710

Artist

Visscher Nicolas (1618-1679)

Nicolaes Visscher I (1618 -1679) Amsterdam was a Dutch engraver, cartographer and publisher. He belonged to the Dutch art dealer, engraver and publisher dynasty founded by his father Claes Janszoon Visscher. After his father's death in 1652, he took over his father's art publishing house and initially continued publishing the atlases and maps that his father had begun. He then began publishing works under his own name. Together with his son Nicolaes Visscher II (1649-1702), he engraved a large number of printing plates, further replenishing the publisher's stock. The atlases "Atlas Contractus", "Atlas Minor" and "Germania Inferior" contain about 170 plates. After N. Visscher's death, some of Visscher's copper plates passed to Petrus Schenk II (1693-1775), who used them for numerous reprints.

Historical Description

Château de Béthune is a historic fortified castle in La Chapelle-d’Angillon, in central France. Its origins date back to the 11th century, when a square medieval keep was built for Gilon de Sully. The castle was expanded in the 15th and 16th centuries, including the addition of a chapel, residential buildings and a Renaissance gallery. Around 1607, Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, a prominent minister of King Henry IV, added a terrace to the castle. Today, the château combines medieval defensive architecture with Renaissance elements and is protected as a historic monument in France.