Thirty Years War (1618-48)
Maps, prints and letterpress text covering the major battles and sieges of the war
View of the siege of Casale Monferrato, 1630 (Casale Monferrato [Casale, Casal, Cazal], Piedmont, Italy) 45°08ʹ00ʺN 08°27ʹ09ʺE
1630 or laterEtching and engraving; printed from two copperplates on two sheets of paper, then joined; mounted on paper (Mount Type A); gilt edges left and bottom | 37.0 x 65.6 cm (image and sheet) | RCIN 722057
A view, looking east, of the second siege of Casale Monferrato, which was carried out by the Spanish, commanded by Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases (1569-25 September 1630) and defended by Jean Caylar d'Anduze de Saint-Bonnet, Marquis de Toiras (1585-1636), from 24 May to 18 October, when the town was relieved by a supporting French army under Henri II, duc de Montmorency (1595-30 October 1632). War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1631).
See the notes to RCIN 722031.
The attribution of the engraving of this view to Abraham Bosse is made in the catalogue entry for this item in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Bosse was apprenticed to Melchior I Tavernier, the uncle of Melchior II Tavernier. Melchior I (c.1544-1641) would have been about 86 at the time of the siege and so it seems reasonable to assume that this view would have been published by Melchior II.
It appears that this view was originally published as the central part of a larger work, being flanked, on the left, by the Plan Geometral de la Ville & Citadelle de CAZAL (see RCIN 722054.a) which was engraved on the same copperplate as the left hand section of the view. The ELEVATION DV PLAN DE LA CITADELLE DE CAZAL (RCIN 722054.a) was printed from a separate copperplate and was pasted to the right side of the view. A title, apparently engraved in three sections across the top of each of the three copperplates which make up the entire image, runs across the whole: '[PLAN DE LA VILLE ET CITADELLE DE CAZAL ASSIEGEE PA R LE · M · DE SPINOLA · le 24meMay 1630. ET DEFFENDVE PAR · M. ·R DE TOYRAS · IVSQVE AV 18me Octobre. QVELLE A ESTE SECO VRVE PAR LES ARMES DV ROY.]'.
Abraham Bosse (1604-76) (engraver)
Melchior Tavernier (1594-1665) (publisher)
Subject(s)
Army-ItalyArmy-SpainWatermark: View: bunch of grapes. Mount: none.
Condition: four fold lines; some brown discolouration to the print and mount; the mount is cut away diagonally at top right and bottom right edges. Verso: pressure marks from the mounts of items which were kept below this map/print in a different collection are present on the verso
37.0 x 65.6 cm (image and sheet)
cropped (platemark)
41.3 cm x [cropped] (mount)
Printed title:
[PLAN DE LA VILLE ET CITADELLE DE CAZAL ASSIEGEE PA R LE · M · DE SPINOLA · le 24meMay 1630. ET DEFFENDVE PAR · M. ·R DE TOYRAS · IVSQVE AV 18me Octobre. QVELLE A ESTE SECO VRVE PAR LES ARMES DV ROY.]
Annotations:
George III heading: Plan relevé de la Ville et Citadelle de Casal avec le Paissage d’alentour, et l’ordre du Camp fait devant icelle par le Marquis de / Spinola le 24 jour de May 1630 et defendue par M.r de Toiras jusque au 18 Octobre a este secourue par les armes du Roy.
Other annotations: (Recto) none. (Verso) [right, red pencil, crossed out in black pencil:] 1/166; [right and bottom right, black pencil:] II/30; [bottom, left of centre, black pencil, erased:] Casal.
George III catalogue entry:
Casal Plan du Siege de la Ville de Casal commencé par le Marquis de Spinola et soutenu par M. de Toyras, depuis le 24 de May 1630: par le S.r Maupin Ing.r avec une Description; chez Tavernier, 1630.
Subject(s)
Casale Monferrato [Casale, Casal, Cazal], Piedmont, Italy (45°08ʹ00ʺN 08°27ʹ09ʺE)
Bibliographic reference(s)
Mark McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2930
Page revisions
23 May 2024
Current version
