Paesi Bassi / Francia - Ardres; Adriaen Huberti - Assedio di Ardres - 1581-1600

An extremely rare and spectacular contemporary copper engraving from 1596 depicting the famous siege of the fortress of Ardres by the Spanish army, published in Antwerp by Adriaen Huberti and preserved with magnificent original inking.

This extraordinary and exceptionally well-documented military map is an iconographic record of the utmost importance to the geopolitical and military history of Renaissance Europe. The plate captures in real time the great siege of the fortress of Ardres, which took place in May 1596, when the formidable Catholic Spanish armies of the Spanish Netherlands, led by the Governor-General, Archduke Cardinal Albert of Austria, besieged and captured this strategically important stronghold. The copy is of exceptional interest to collectors thanks to the clearly legible signature “Huberti excudit cum Priuil. Regis. Enghien, et Lombarts” in the lower right margin, which attributes the print directly to Adriaen Huberti’s celebrated publishing workshop in Antwerp, operating in close collaboration with the Flemish master engravers of the period.
The composition unfolds in an extraordinarily detailed bird’s-eye view, combining the precision of an engineering plan with the vividness of a war chronicle. At the center of the plate is the fortified town plan of Ardres, enclosed by its bastioned walls, while all around it unfolds the spectacular, meticulously detailed deployment of the Spanish regiments, identified by contemporary inscriptions mapping the historic encampments, including the positions of La Borlotte, D. Augustin de Mesta, D. Alonzo de Mendo, and the Corps of Cor. d’Esterle. In the upper left corner is a valuable numbered legend in French identifying key locations in the lower town after the battle, including the positions of the cannons and mills. The lower margin of the sheet is elegantly completed by a bilingual inscription in Old Dutch and Old French, recording that the siege began on May 7, 1596, and that the town subsequently surrendered by capitulation on the 23rd of the same month. The copy is in excellent overall condition, printed on sturdy contemporary sixteenth-century paper bearing a watermark, with crisp, clean inking and no alterations, sound margins on all four sides, and a completely blank reverse.

Dimensions: 23 x 36 cm
Will be shipped by courier