Leo Brabantiae – Sibertus Waterloos + Hubert Loyens, 1665-1674

RARE ARMORIAL MAP: LEO BRABANTIAE

“Leo Nobilissimi Ducatus Brabantiae” [Lion of the most noble Duchy of Brabant]. Copper engraving made in 1621–1622 by Sibertus Waterloos, here in the 2nd state published by Hubert Loyens between 1665 and 1674. Size 48.5 × 58 cm.

In the midst of the Eighty Years’ War, to gather all elements of the Duchy of Brabant into one coherent image and thus emphasize its venerable tradition and its power — that is what the engraver sought to achieve with this remarkable armorial map. Sibertus Waterloos (†1624) produced the engraving in the year he was appointed seal-engraver to the Spanish King Philip IV.

The 45 portrait medallions on the Brabant Lion show the genealogical lineage of the Brabant house, with Pepin of Landen as progenitor placed in the right hind leg. On the right, beneath crosier and mitre, the clergy are depicted; on the left, beneath helmet and banner, the nobility. In the side margins appear the coats of arms of the cities, and in the bottom margin those of the old patrician families of Brussels, Leuven, and Antwerp. Together with the blazons of the four capitals flanking the rampant lion, the composition symbolizes how nobility, clergy, and capitals were full participants in ducal power and contributed to Brabant’s identity.

In the lower left corner is a colour key explaining how the different hatchings should be read.

Below the image appears: “LEO FORTISSIMUS ANIMALIUM AD NULLIUS PAUEBIT OCCURSUM” [The lion, bravest of animals, will shrink back from no attack.] It must have served to instil courage in the viewer at a time when Brabant had been a theatre of war for decades.

Literature: Hollstein’s Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700, vol. LI, p. 101.

Price: Euro 2.450,-