Paesi Bassi / Francia - Cambrai (Camerijck); Adriaen Huberti - Assedio e Presa di Cambrai (1595) - 1581-1600

Rare and spectacular contemporaneous copperplate engraving of 1595 depicting the historic siege and surrender of the city of Cambrai to the Spanish armies of the Count of Fuentes, published in Antwerp by Adriaen Huberti and preserved in a magnificent original inking impression.

This extraordinary and exceptionally well-documented military map constitutes an iconographic testimony of the highest importance for the geopolitics and military history of Renaissance Europe. The plate captures in real time the great siege of Cambrai, culminating in October 1595, when the imposing Catholic Spanish armies of the Spanish Netherlands, under the iron leadership of the Governor Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes, pressed on the strategic fortress, forcing the French governor Jean de Monluc, Seigneur de Balagny, to capitulate. The specimen boasts exceptional collecting value thanks to the signature AHuberti exc: cum pra Regia Bußchere clearly legible in the lower right margin, linking the print directly to the famous publishing workshop of Adriaen Huberti in Antwerp, accomplished with the refined technical contribution of master engraver Bußchere.

The visual composition develops with a bird’s-eye perspective of astonishing narrative density. At the center of the plate stands the magnificent and imposing geometric fortified plan of the city of Cambrai, fully surrounded by its spectacular star-shaped walls, moats and advanced defensive walkways. The large lower section is entirely occupied by the meticulous tactical deployment of the besieging troops, showing the arrangement of dense encampments of tents, the heavy cavalry units of the Bandes d'Ordonnances and the infantry regiments of the Espaignols. In the center, the proud figure on horseback of the Count of Fuentes issues orders, while on the left the retreat and evacuation of the French garrison (la sortie des François) is dramatically depicted. The lower margin of the sheet is nobly completed by a double bilingual inscription in Old Dutch and Old French, which describes in detail the dynamics of the surrender on 2 October 1595 and the final abandonment of the castle on 9 October. The specimen is in excellent overall condition, printed on sturdy sixteenth-century rag paper with watermark, characterized by a clean, deep, high-contrast black inking, with sound margins on all four sides and the reverse completely white.

Dimensions 23 x 31 cm
Will be shipped by registered mail