Other 17th-century conflicts
Printed and manuscript maps, prints and views of 22 seventeenth-century wars
View of the siege of Vercelli, 1617 (Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy) 45°19ʹ17ʺN 08°25ʹ11ʺE
1617 or laterEtching and engraving; printed on paper; mounted on paper (Mount Type A); gilt edges left, bottom and right | 30.4 x 45.6 cm (image, neatline and sheet) | RCIN 721136
A middle oblique view of the successful Spanish siege of Savoyard Vercelli from 24 May to 26 July 1617. The Spanish were commanded by Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, 5th Marquis of Villafranca and Governor of Milan (6 September 1546-17 July 1627). Montferrat War of Succession (1613-1630). Oriented with east to top (cardinal points named centre of each edge).
Dates for the siege are taken from Donati (2006) p.156.
Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy (12 January 1562-26 July 1630), had once again invaded the Monferrato and Spanish Lombardy but Spain captured the important town of Vercelli after a two-month long bloody siege. Once again (see the siege of Asti, RCIN 721134) French diplomatic intervention saved the Duke from humiliation (Hanlon, 2008, p.90). The Savoyards made a famed though eventually unsuccesful defence of Vercelli in which the infantry commander, Augusto Manfredo Scaglia (1587-1629), Governor of the fortress of Vercelli, played a prominent part (Osborne, 2007, p.64).
This print shows the state of the siege as at 1 June 1617, after a week of the siege. The inner line of the Spanish circumvallation and the outer line of contravallation, together with the positions of the cavalry and the camps of different contingents, are shown. A pontoon bridge, made by the Spanish, is depicted crossing the river Sesia between the Lombardy defences and those of some of the Spanish to the south-east of the town. The lengths of certain sections of the outer fortified wall of the town are given in ‘passi’ [one passi= approx. 1500 mm].
The artillery fire laid waste to much of the town and some time afterwards, on 12 August 1620, the evidence of the siege was still to be seen: ‘a great number of dwellings, etts. [sic] buildings, battered downe and levelled with the ground.’ Vercelli was eventually restored to the Duke of Savoy on 15 June 1618 (Donati p.156) but was retaken later in 1638. (Temple, p.108 and ft.6).
Monogrammist I [or L] C (printmaker) [in cartouche, below other text:] L C.
Subject(s)
Army-SpainWatermark: Fleur-de-lys in circle, crown above
Condition: four fold lines; some brown discolouration to map and mount; printed from a dirty and scratched copperplate; pressure marks from the mounts of items which were kept above and below this map/print in a different collection are present on the recto and verso. Verso: surface dirt along fold lines
30.4 x 45.6 cm (image, neatline and sheet)
cropped (platemark)
40.3 x 54.6 cm (mount)
Printed title:
L’ASSEDIO DI VERCELLI [top centre, in scroll]
Additional text:
[bottom left, in cartouche surmounted by rustic head, a second title:] Ve.[ra] delineatio circūsessi = / om Ciuitatis METROP = / POLÆ (vulgo Vercelli) ex / statu Ducis Sabaudiæ / vt se habuit p.o die Iunij / anno 1617.
Annotations:
George III heading: Vercelli besieged and taken by the Spaniards in 1617.
Other annotations: (Recto) [bottom right, on mount, black pencil:] 1617. (Verso) [bottom right, on mount, red pencil:] 1/122; [bl, on mount, black pencil:] V[ercell]i.
George III catalogue entry:
Vercelli Delineatio circumsessionis Civitatis Vercelli ex Statu Ducis Sabaudiæ ut se habuit 1 Junii 1617: a L.C. (Lucas Ciamberlano)
Subject(s)
Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy (45°19ʹ17ʺN 08°25ʹ11ʺE)
Bibliographic reference(s)
F. Palumbo, Le città e il territorio nelle guerre dei Monferrato (1613-1630), Turin 2000
A. Berardo and C. Promis, ‘Relazione dell'assedio della città di Vercelli fatto nell'anno 1617 dall'esercito di Spagna’, Archivio Storico Italiano ossia Raccolta dì opere e documenti finora inediti o divenuti rarissimi riguardanti la Storia d'Italia, vol. XIII, 1847, pp. 450-528
G. Hanlon, The twilight of a military tradition: Italian aristocrats and European conflicts, 1560-1800, London 2008, p.90
T. Osborne, Dynasty and diplomacy in the court of Savoy: political culture and the Thirty Years’ War, Cambridge, 2007
R. Carnac Temple (ed), The travels of Peter Mundy, in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667. Vol.I. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Second Series, no .XVII, Cambridge, 1907
C. Donati, Alle frontiere delle Lombardia: politica, guerra e religione nell’età moderna, Milan 2006
M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2818
Page revisions
25 May 2024
Current version
