Catalog Archive
Auction 114, Lot 480

"Pressburg - Posonium vel Pisonium ut Lazius Hungariae urbs", Braun & Hogenberg

Subject: Hungary

Period: 1589 (circa)

Publication: Civitates Orbis Terrarum

Color: Hand Color

Size:
19.5 x 11.5 inches
49.5 x 29.2 cm
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Superb view of present-day Bratislava, which was the Hungarian capital between 1536 to 1783 and the present-day capital of the Slovak Republic. The view shows the hilltop castle with the city nestled below on the banks of the Danube River. A group of women and children are shown in the foreground. Braun's motive for adding figures to his city plans, as stated in his introduction, were to discourage the military use of the plans by the Turks because he believed that their religion forbade them from looking on representations of the human form. French text on verso.

References:

Condition: B

Toned with original color. Backed with Japanese tissue to strengthen paper and repair a few cracks from oxidation of the original color and repair a tear at right.

Estimate: $400 - $450

Sold for: $350

Closed on 3/1/2006

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