Italy - Perugia; Pflaumern - Perusia Augusta - 1650

Technical sheet

Title: Perusia Augusta – Prospective view of the city of Perugia
Author of the work: Johann Heinrich von Pflaumern (1585–1671)
Engraver: Wolfgang Kilian (1581–1662)
Publisher: Georg Wildeisen
Printer: Johann Praetorius
Place: printing carried out in Augusta Vindelicorum, today Augsburg
Period: 1650
Technique: copper-engraved intaglio on copper, executed primarily with a burin
Support: laid paper
Dimensions: sheet 16 × 21 cm; impression 15.5 × 18.5 cm
Composition: folded plate on a single sheet, accompanied by a numbered legend with thirty topographic references
Provenance work: Johann Heinrich von Pflaumern, Mercurius Italicus hospiti fidus per Italiae praecipuas regiones et urbes dux, second enlarged edition, 1650
Verso: blank

Description

Seventeenth-century perspective view of Perugia, depicted as an aerial view with the Latin title Perusia Augusta arranged at the top of the composition. The city is shown within its intricate hilly landscape, with particular attention to the urban fabric, fortifications, religious and civil buildings, and the main access routes.

The town core is represented by a dense succession of buildings, towers, bell towers, walls, and urban gates. The elevated viewpoint allows recognition of the irregular layout of the city and its integration with the surrounding territory, characterized by reliefs, roads, waterways, fields, and small settlements. In the upper left there is a wind rose indicating the orientation.

In the lower band there is a numbered legend with thirty references. Among others are identified the castle, the complexes of San Francesco, San Pietro, Sant’Agostino and San Domenico, the church of Sant’Angelo, San Lorenzo, the Palace of the Legate, the episcopal palace, the seminary, the College of the Oratorians, the aqueduct, and numerous city gates.

The meticulous burin engraving, based on a dense system of parallel and cross hatching, effectively distinguishes the architectures, the walls, and the hill morphology. The plate combines topographical and documentary aims with a scenographic construction typical of urban views produced in northern Europe during the first half of the seventeenth century.

Historical-artistic note

The plate was made by Wolfgang Kilian, a member of a well-known family of engravers active in Augsburg, renowned for portraits, title pages, urban views, and book illustrations. The matrix of Perusia Augusta had already appeared in the first edition of Mercurius Italicus, published in Augsburg in 1625, and was later reused in the second enlarged edition of 1650.

Johann Heinrich von Pflaumern conceived Mercurius Italicus as an erudite guide to the main Italian cities and regions. The volume complemented historical, artistic, and monumental descriptions with a series of plans and views dedicated to the major centers of the peninsula. The second edition, declared on the title page as “plurimis locis et tabulis aliquot auctior,” was published at the expense of the bookseller Georg Wildeisen and printed by Johann Praetorius.

The view constitutes an interesting witness to the image of Perugia disseminated through European travel literature of the seventeenth century. The presence of the monumental legend reinforces its nature as a visual guide, intended to orient the traveler and present the city through its main religious, civil, and defensive buildings.

Condition Report

Copy on laid paper, with editorial folds consistent with its original insertion in the volume. Small tears and openings along folds and margins, restored on the back with localized paper applications. Minor inclusions and reinforcements particularly affect the lower margin, the central area, and the lower right corner. Margins are reduced and irregular, with light oxidations, stains, and signs of use compatible with the period. Overall, the impression is sharp and legible. Verso: blank.