Czechia - Prague; Pieter Schenk - Praag, de Hooftstadt van Bohemen, leggende op de rivier Molda - 1702

Technical sheet

Title: Prague, the Hooftstadt of Bohemia, legends on the Moldau River; Latin title: Praga, Antiquorum Marobudum, regni Bohemici caput, Moldae fluvio incumbens.
Author: Pieter Schenk the Elder, signed “Petr. Schenk.” at the bottom left.
Publisher: Pieter Schenk.
Place: Amsterdam.
Period: circa 1702.
Technique: copper engraving on copper plate, with aquatint and burin, manually colored in a period not confirmed.
Support: laid paper.
Dimensions: sheet 31.5 × 27.5 cm; engraving 26.5 × 21.5 cm.
Composition: single plate, no. 40, belonging to the Petri Schenkii Hecatompolis, sive Totius orbis Terrarum Oppida Nobiliora Centum; exquisitely collected and elegantly depicted, published in 1702.
Inscriptions / Marks: bilingual Dutch and Latin title in the lower margin; the author’s signature on the left, Amsterdam indication and plate number on the right.

Description

Panoramic view of Prague, etched in copper by Pieter Schenk the Elder and published in Amsterdam circa 1702. The city is shown from an elevated viewpoint, with the course of the Moldau running through the urban fabric, punctuated by bridges, towers, church steeples and monumental complexes.
The composition contrasts the wide city panorama with a foreground animated by figures in contemporary dress: a group of people beside a donkey on the left and a rider accompanied by a man on foot on the right. Trees, vegetation and a ruin introduce the view and enhance its depth, while a vast sky occupies the upper part of the scene.
The engraving features dense, fine hatching, particularly evident in the depiction of architecture, slopes and outfits. The manual coloring distinguishes the roofs and buildings, the waters of the Moldau, the vegetation and the figures. An ornamental border frames the scene; at the bottom, two adjacent fields host the captions in Dutch and Latin.

Historical-artistic note

Pieter Schenk the Elder was an engraver and publisher active in Amsterdam from the late 17th to the early 18th century, with a production including maps, city views, and prints on various subjects.
His Hecatompolis, published in 1702, brings together one hundred views of cities from around the world. The collection fits within the Dutch editorial tradition of topographical repertoires, in which the description of the urban landscape is paired with scenes of daily life and picturesque elements. The plate dedicated to Prague documents the image of the Bohemian capital within European figurative culture of the early 18th century.

Condition Report

Sheet with preserved margins and the plate line visible. The paper shows waviness and folds, widespread mainly in the upper part, slight yellowing and scattered brown and dotted stains. A more noticeable stain affects the sky in the right half of the composition. Small irregularities and abrasions along the edges; on the reverse, without printed text, there are stains, pencil annotations and two remnants of mounting slips along the upper margin.