1632 – J. L. Gottfried – Riga

Title:                     RIGA .
                                      
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Description:

This is a charming small panorama of Riga from the river Daugava, after the celebrated view in Braun & Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

The view shows the castle at the left, then the spires of St James, the Cathedral and St Peter rising above the walled city. Merchant ships, boats and a fishing vessel lie on the river in front of the long wooden quay, and birds fly over the town. An empty coat-of-arms shield sits in the upper left corner, with the title “RIGA.” at the top.

The view illustrated Johann Ludwig Gottfried’s Inventarium Sueciae, a German description of the Kingdom of Sweden and its possessions. Matthäus Merian published it in Frankfurt in 1632, at the height of Gustavus Adolphus’s fame in the Thirty Years’ War. Riga, captured by the Swedish king in 1621, was then the largest city of the Swedish Empire.

Cartographer/Artist:      after Braun & Hogenberg; engraved in the Merian workshop

Publisher:                            Matthäus Merian, Frankfurt am Main

Atlas:                                     Johann Ludwig Gottfried, Inventarium Sueciae
Frame size:                            29,5 x 23,5 cm
Year:                                         1632
Technique:                             copper engraving

Reference:                              cf. Museum Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), V/K2 786 (a view of the same series in Inventarium Sueciae, 1632)

Condition:
Good. Clear impression. The paper is toned, with slight ink smudging at the lower right and faint show-through of the text on the back. It is framed under a cream mount in a silver-gilt frame, behind glass.

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This is an original antique map published in 1632 and NOT a modern copy or reprint