Greece - Kos; Henri de Beauvau - Lango - 1615

Technical sheet

Subject / Title: Lango – Chart of the island of Kos
Author / Cartographer: Henri de Beauvau (1575–1635)
Engraver: traditionally attributed to Jean Appier the Elder
Designer: not indicated
Publisher / Printer: Jacob Garnich
Place: Nancy, Duchy of Lorraine
Era / Date: 1615
Technique: copper engraving, executed in aquatint and burin, accompanied by the original typographic text
Support: ancient laid paper
Dimensions: sheet about 23 × 17.5 cm; engraving about 15.5 × 10.5 cm
Composition: original sheet printed on both sides; the map of the island of Kos on page 82 and the original typography on page 81
Inscriptions: title “Lango” engraved in the upper left corner; editorial page numbering “81” and “82”

Description

Seventeenth-century chart of the island of Kos, indicated with the historical title Lango, taken from the first illustrated edition of the Relation journalière du voyage du Levant by Henri de Beauvau, published in Nancy by Jacob Garnich in 1615.

The island is depicted from a bird’s-eye view, with the highly articulated coastline and terrain crossed by reliefs, waterways and internal routes. Numerous small buildings, villages, fortifications and places of worship punctuate the landscape, offering a representation that is both geographical and descriptive. The main town, located along the eastern coast, is shown as a fortified center facing the sea.

Around the larger island appear several islets, while the sea is rendered with dense horizontal hatching. The orography is modeled with short parallel strokes and engraved shading, in the graphical language characteristic of insular plates from the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century.

The chart is accompanied by the original French typography, in which Beauvau recalls the island’s ancient name, Coo, and its association with the figures of Hippocrates and Apelles. The sheet thus preserves its original editorial context, joining the cartographic representation with the historical and travel narrative.

Historical-artistic note

Henri de Beauvau was a French soldier, diplomat and traveler active at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. In 1604 he undertook a voyage in the eastern Mediterranean in the company of Jean de Gontaut-Biron, Baron of Salignac and French ambassador at the Ottoman court. The journey traversed the Adriatic, Greece, the islands of the Aegean, Cyprus and the Levant.

The first edition of his travelogue appeared at Toul in 1608. The edition published in Nancy in 1615 by Jacob Garnich was the first to be enriched with maps and views of the places described, conceived as visual testimonies of the itinerary. The engravings are traditionally attributed to Jean Appier the Elder and fit into the established Mediterranean tradition of insular plates.

The depiction of Kos is of particular interest for its combination of geographical observation, classical memory and travel testimony. The island, known in antiquity as Cos, was universally associated with Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine, and with the painter Apelles: references explicitly recalled also in the accompanying text that accompanies the plate.

Condition Report

Sheet slightly browned, with widespread oxidations, sporadic foxing spots and some brown stains, mainly concentrated along the upper edge. Small reinforcement on the right side of the sheet. There are light halos and natural irregularities of the support. Moderate transparency of the printed text on the verso, a characteristic of thin antique paper. Clear and legible impression, with good contrast and clearly preserved engraved details. Margins present; no loss affecting the engraved part.