Batavia castle – after Charles-François Tombe, 1810

“Vue de la Citadelle de Batavia du côté du Port aux bois” [view of the Batavia castle, seen from the land gate], copper engraving made after the design by Charles-François Tombe published in 1810 by Arthus Bertrand in Paris as part of ‘Voyage aux Indes orientales, pendant les années 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805 et 1806’. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 19 x 28,8 cm.

Batavia Castle (in today’s Jakarta) was built in the early 17th century and consisted of multiple bastions and walls, with a moat surrounding it. The fortress was designed to protect the Dutch East India Company‘s interests in the region and was considered a formidable defense structure at the time. At the beginning of the 19^th century the castle was still largely intact and occupied by Dutch forces, but it had lost some of its strategic significance due to the decline of the Dutch East India Company’s power in the region. It was dismantled in 1809.

Price: Euro 250,-