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Other 17th-century conflicts

Printed and manuscript maps, prints and views of 22 seventeenth-century wars

GIOVANNI MAGGI (1566 - C.1621)

View of the siege of Montmélian, 1600 (Montmélian, Rhône-Alps, France) 45°29ʹ59ʺN 06°03ʹ01ʺE

dated 1600

Etching and engraving; printed on paper; mounted on paper (Mount Type A); gilt edges bottom, left and right | 31.1 x 41.1 cm (image and sheet) | RCIN 721111

A view of the siege of Montmélian, held by the Savoyard Jacques, Count of Brandis, by the French, commanded by François de Bonne de Lesdiguières (1 April 1543-28 September 1626) from August to November 1600 resulting in the capitulation of the town on 16 November 1600. Franco-Savoyard War (1600-1601). Oriented with south to top.

A low to medium oblique view, with the Isère River and the fortified town of Montmélian in the foreground, and, in the distance to the top centre of view, the city of Grenoble where Henry IV was staying at the time of the siege.

The fortress of Montmélian was ‘of that Strength, as not many places in Christendom can compare with it’. In order to try to preserve it, Monsieur de Brandis gave three hostages to Henry IV with the caveat that if the Duke of Savoy did not come within a month with a large army to relieve the town, de Brandis would surrender it. This view shows that the citadel, flying the French fleur-de-lys, is firing on the town, together with the French batteries encircling it. The disposition of these works had been made by Sully who had taken time to observe where the weak points of the fortifications were.

Sully, in his detailed description of this siege, wrote that ‘This castle is situated on a rock … so high, that it commands the whole country about it; steep and inaccessible on all sides except that next the city, where the ascent is less difficult’.

  • Giovanni Maggi (1566- c.1621) (engraver)

    Philippe Thomassin (1562-1622) (publisher)

    Jean Turpin (1561-1626) : Rome (publisher) [bottom right:] Io. Maij fe. i600 | Phts et Io. Turpinus exc. Romę 
    [bottom left:] Superior pmissu

    Subject(s)

    Army-France
  • Watermark: None visible

    Condition: good condition

  • 31.1 x 41.1 cm (image and sheet)

    40.7 x 54.7 cm (mount)

  • Printed title:

    ASSEDIO, ET PRESA DELLA / FORTEZZA DI MONMILIANO / a di i7, 9bre / i600 [top centre]

    Annotations:

    George III heading: Montmelian taken by the French 17 Novr. 1600.

    Other annotations: (Recto) [top centre, black pencil, erased:] taken by the French [?]; [bottom right, black pencil, erased:] 1600; [centre of left edge, black pencil:] 17 Nov 1600. (Verso) none visible.

    George III catalogue entry:

    Montmelian Assedio et presa della Fortezza di Monmiliano a di 17 9.bre 1600; da I. Maii, 1600; apresso Turpinus.

  • Subject(s)

    Montmélian, Rhône-Alps, France (45°29ʹ59ʺN 06°03ʹ01ʺE)

  • Bibliographic reference(s)

    E. Sawyer, Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Q. Elizabeth and K. James I, vol. I, London, 1725, p. 265

    Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully, Prime Minister to Henry the Great, vol. II, book XI, London, 1756, pp. 30, 38-46

    M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2775

Page revisions

  • 4 June 2024