Italy - Mantua; Gabriel Bodenehr il Vecchio (1664–1758). - LVCCA / LUCCA (Veduta prospettica a volo d'uccello della città fortificata di Lucca e delle sue mura - 1721-1750

Refined eighteenth-century bird's-eye view of the Republic of Lucca, entirely enclosed by the famous bastioned circle of Renaissance walls and surrounded by the flooded moat. At the top center appears the title LVCCA set in a red ribbon cartouche. Within the urban fabric the main thoroughfares, churches, squares (including the elliptical shape of Piazza dell'Anfiteatro on the right) and the historic districts with their inscriptions (S. Martino, S. Frediano, S. Salvatore) are clearly recognizable. On the left and right sides, inside the copper plate margin, are inscribed two columns of historical-descriptive text and a numbered legend in German that illustrate the Roman origins of the city, the construction of the fortifications (started in 1504 and completed in 1645) and the main civil and religious buildings.

State of preservation

• Engraving and Hand Coloration. Excellent impression, sharp and well contrasted, enhanced by a pleasant hand watercolor coloring that emphasizes the red of the roofs, the green of the embankments and surrounding countryside, and the blue of the water in the moats."