Siege of Monzón, 1642

MONSON. / en Aragon

A view of Monzón, besieged by the French army, commanded by Philippe de la Mothe-Houdancourt (1605-24 March 1657), French Vice-Roy of Catalonia, from sometime in the late Spring until it surrendered on 4 June of that year. Catalan Revolt (1640-1659).

This print was published, sometime between 1676 and 1694, in Sebastien de Beaulieu's Les Conquêtes de Louis le Grand (not present in RCIN 723027). The print was published in at least two formats: 1) on its own, surrounded by a decorative engraved border; 2) pasted to the bottom of an upper sheet which contained a blank oval for the insertion of a portrait or armorials (see examples of other prints in RCIN 723027 and, for an example of this print with oval, see the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya). 

The attribution of the etching to Adam Perelle is made on stylistic grounds and on the basis that he etched several views for Beaulieu's work, but so also did Gabriel Perelle (although he died in 1677 and produced fewer views), and an N. Perelle.

Spaces have been left in the note, bottom right, for the values of the longitude and latitude of Monzón.

Israel (p.88), states that the French army invaded Aragon after reaching Lérida in Spring, taking Monzón in June.