Seventeen Provinces – Carel Allard, c. 1696

“XVII Provinciarum Belgicarum. Sive Germaniae Inferioris. Typus novissimus & accuratissimus.” [The Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, or Lower Germany. The newest and most accurate map.] Copper engraving made by Carel Allard in 1675, here in a third state dating to around 1696. Contemporary hand colouring, beautifully heightened with gold. Size: 46.5 × 56 cm.

This richly decorated map depicts the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, the political entity that had been united in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries under Burgundian and later Habsburg rule. The region comprised the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and adjacent parts of northern France and western Germany. Although the northern and southern provinces became politically separated after the Revolt against Spain, the concept of the XVII Provinces remained a powerful historical and geographical framework in cartography.

The map is oriented with the west at the top and shows the dense network of cities, towns, rivers, and waterways that characterized the landscape of the Low Countries. The provinces are distinguished by different colours. In the north we recognize Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Groningen, Overijssel, the Bishopric of Utrecht, and the County of Zutphen, while in the south lie the Spanish Netherlands, including Brabant, Flanders, Hainaut, Artois, Namur, Limburg, and Luxembourg.

The map was published by Carel Allard (1648–1709), a member of a well-known Amsterdam family of publishers and engravers. The Allards specialized in decorative maps and atlases that built heavily upon the cartographic material of earlier publishers such as Blaeu, Janssonius, and Visscher. The present map belongs to a tradition of maps of the Seventeen Provinces that dates back to the sixteenth century, but Allard gave the sheet a distinctly Baroque decoration, with elaborate allegorical figures and cartouches.

The cartouches illustrate the political and economic strength of the Netherlands. In the title cartouche stands Mars, the Roman god of war, holding a banner inscribed “Pro Libertate.” He symbolizes the military vigilance with which the country’s freedom is defended. Beside him appears a city maiden with the Dutch lion, personifying the state and the provincial community of the Netherlands. At the bottom we see Mercury, the god of commerce and travellers, next to a river god. Together they refer to the prosperity derived from shipping, trade, and the country’s important waterways.

The legend cartouche on the left emphasizes this economic and cartographic reputation. At the top Feme blows her trumpet to proclaim the fame of the Netherlands, flanked by two putti. Below are depicted surveyors, a merchant surrounded by goods, and a fisherman with a richly filled basket, referring respectively to precise land surveying, international trade, and the fisheries that formed an important foundation of the prosperity of the Low Countries in the seventeenth century.

Literature:

• Hans Spikmans “Germania Inferior, cartobibliografie van de Zeventien Provinciën der Nederlanden 1548-1831”, map no. 150-3

Price: Euro 1.250,-