Dort, Franciscus; Ohr, Philipp von
Beschreibung und Abcontrafeyung des Allerköstlichsten Vortrefflichsten und Allerherrlichsten Gebewdes dergleichen itzo in der Welt nichts zufinden genandt das Closter S. Laurentij gelegen in Escuriali fünff Meil von Madridt, 1597. Hamburg.
Exceedingly rare 1597 view of El Escorial, the earliest vernacular German descriptions of the royal monastery, dedicated to the humanist scholar Heinrich Rantzau, and inspired after Herrera and Perret rather than the common Ortelius version
Visually striking broadside view of the Escorial Monastery, based on Perret’s design (the first ever created) compiled by Franciscus à Dort and printed in Hamburg by Philipp von Ohr in 1597, with explanatory text in German, this publication offers a sweeping perspective view of the royal monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, accompanied by
dense letterpress text. It was created to disseminate the grandeur of Philip II's architectural masterpiece to a Northern European audience, framing the newly completed complex as the modern equivalent of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Visually striking broadside view of the Escorial Monastery, based on Perret’s design (the first ever created) compiled by Franciscus à Dort and printed in Hamburg by Philipp von Ohr in 1597, with explanatory text in German, this publication offers a sweeping perspective view of the royal monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, accompanied by
dense letterpress text. It was created to disseminate the grandeur of Philip II's architectural masterpiece to a Northern European audience, framing the newly completed complex as the modern equivalent of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
$ 12,000.00
628 x 458 mm. Trimmed close, tiny hole in paper entering printed surface at top, just touching the outer line, some light creasing now flattened, somewhat foxed, overall in excellent condition.
The engraved image is closely derived from Pieter Perret's famous 1587 engraving, Diseño VII, which was commissioned by the building's primary architect, Juan de Herrera, to codify the structure's iconic appearance, although curiously, it is a mirror image of the original. By combining a finely detailed copperplate copy of Perret's view with an extensive descriptive text, Franciscus à Dort provided a comprehensive, accessible guide for the German-speaking market. Philipp von Ohr, the printer, was oneof Hamburg's leading typographers, most famous for printing Tycho Brahe's Astronomiae instauratae mechanica the following year.
The Eighth Wonder of the World:
The view sweeps across the immense gridded complex, detailing the basilica's dome, the formal gardens, and the royal apartments, while the Guadarrama Mountains and surrounding settlements (including Madrid and Navalcarnero) dot the background. The letterpress text opens with a summary of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (the Pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes, etc.) before introducing El Escorial as a peerless modern eighth wonder. The description then methodically tours the exterior facades, the basilica, the convent, and the royal quarters.
Heinrich Rantzau and the Dissemination of Knowledge:
The text bears a prominent printed dedication to Heinrich Rantzau, the Danish viceroy of Schleswig-Holstein and one of Northern Europe's greatest humanist patrons. Rantzau was a passionate collector of geographical and architectural data (and a major contributor to Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum), making him the ideal recipient for a work broadcasting Spanish imperial grandeur to a Protestant northern audience. Furthermore, it was at Rantzau's castle in Wandsbek that Philipp von Ohr would soon print Brahe's masterwork, further interlinking the intellectuals involved in this broadsheet's production.
Rarity:
This broadside is extremely rare. The present example is an unrecorded survival, although a smaller version of the same broadside appears to survive in a single example described below.
The construction of the Escorial was one of Philip's most significant achievements, he was personally active and involved in the project. To commemorate this, it is no surprise that Philip II would have personally commissioned a visual record; the engravings which Perret made are after the drawings of Juan de Herrera himself, who commissioned the Flemish Peter Perret (1555-1637) to engrave them in 1584; Perret was a disciple of Cornelius Cort, and had arrived in Spain just a year before the commission.
“The original idea of making the Escorial prints may safely be attributed to Philip II. He was certainly an indefatigable collector of engravings, as well as of maps, topographical drawings and paintings. One of his major interests was architecture, and the Escorial was his own personal conception: he intervened actively at every stage of its design, planning, construction, furnishing and decoration – though the extent to which he played the role of part designer as well as patron of the enterprise is still underestimated. The member of his staff chosen by Philip to take charge of the Escorial engravings was Juan de Herrera, his aposentador mayor or official responsible for the royal lodgings. Herrera had worked as architectural draughtsman under the architect who designed the Escorial, Juan Bautista de Toledo”. (John Bury, Philip II and the Escorial).
Juan de Herrera:
Juan de Herrera (1533-1597) was one of the key figures in the construction of the Escorial, first as aid to Juan Bautista de Toledo, and later as the latter’s successor following his death. He was born in Cantabria and died in Madrid, he “joined the army and participated in Prince Philip's two tours of Europe. His visits to Valladolid in 1559 and Alcala de Henares in 1561-1562 correspond to the itinerary of Prince Charles, whose educational milieu may have included Herrera. In 1563, he was hired as an assistant to Juan Bautista de Toledo, first architect of the Escorial, who had worked as Michelangelo's deputy at Saint Peter's between 1546 and 1548.” (Ana Mozo).
An example of a smaller broadside (450 x 290 mm) entitled Beschreibung und Abcontrafeyung das Closter S. Laurenty, gelegen in Escuriali, attributed to Franciscus a Dort and Philipp von Ohr, was noted by Tony Campell in the Imago Mundi Journal Chronicle for 1982-83 as having been offered by Robert Douwma in List No. 6, Item 640. J.B. Bury references a broadside with a similar title by Franciscus a Dort entitled Beschreibung und Abcontrafeyung des herlichen und weitberümpten Gebewdes und Hauses, genandt das Closter S. Laurentii, gelegen in Escuriali, in Writings on Architecture, Civil and Military, c. 1460 to 1640 (2021). We suspect the two references above are to the same example, as Bury's first article on the subject, “Early printed
references to the Escorial” was issued in 1985, shortly after the discovery of the broadside issued by Douwma.
J. B. Bury, "Early printed references to the Escorial", in Iberia: studies in honour of H. V. Livermore (ed. R. O. W. Goertz), Calgary 1985, plates I-VI.
The engraved image is closely derived from Pieter Perret's famous 1587 engraving, Diseño VII, which was commissioned by the building's primary architect, Juan de Herrera, to codify the structure's iconic appearance, although curiously, it is a mirror image of the original. By combining a finely detailed copperplate copy of Perret's view with an extensive descriptive text, Franciscus à Dort provided a comprehensive, accessible guide for the German-speaking market. Philipp von Ohr, the printer, was oneof Hamburg's leading typographers, most famous for printing Tycho Brahe's Astronomiae instauratae mechanica the following year.
The Eighth Wonder of the World:
The view sweeps across the immense gridded complex, detailing the basilica's dome, the formal gardens, and the royal apartments, while the Guadarrama Mountains and surrounding settlements (including Madrid and Navalcarnero) dot the background. The letterpress text opens with a summary of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (the Pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes, etc.) before introducing El Escorial as a peerless modern eighth wonder. The description then methodically tours the exterior facades, the basilica, the convent, and the royal quarters.
Heinrich Rantzau and the Dissemination of Knowledge:
The text bears a prominent printed dedication to Heinrich Rantzau, the Danish viceroy of Schleswig-Holstein and one of Northern Europe's greatest humanist patrons. Rantzau was a passionate collector of geographical and architectural data (and a major contributor to Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum), making him the ideal recipient for a work broadcasting Spanish imperial grandeur to a Protestant northern audience. Furthermore, it was at Rantzau's castle in Wandsbek that Philipp von Ohr would soon print Brahe's masterwork, further interlinking the intellectuals involved in this broadsheet's production.
Rarity:
This broadside is extremely rare. The present example is an unrecorded survival, although a smaller version of the same broadside appears to survive in a single example described below.
The construction of the Escorial was one of Philip's most significant achievements, he was personally active and involved in the project. To commemorate this, it is no surprise that Philip II would have personally commissioned a visual record; the engravings which Perret made are after the drawings of Juan de Herrera himself, who commissioned the Flemish Peter Perret (1555-1637) to engrave them in 1584; Perret was a disciple of Cornelius Cort, and had arrived in Spain just a year before the commission.
“The original idea of making the Escorial prints may safely be attributed to Philip II. He was certainly an indefatigable collector of engravings, as well as of maps, topographical drawings and paintings. One of his major interests was architecture, and the Escorial was his own personal conception: he intervened actively at every stage of its design, planning, construction, furnishing and decoration – though the extent to which he played the role of part designer as well as patron of the enterprise is still underestimated. The member of his staff chosen by Philip to take charge of the Escorial engravings was Juan de Herrera, his aposentador mayor or official responsible for the royal lodgings. Herrera had worked as architectural draughtsman under the architect who designed the Escorial, Juan Bautista de Toledo”. (John Bury, Philip II and the Escorial).
Juan de Herrera:
Juan de Herrera (1533-1597) was one of the key figures in the construction of the Escorial, first as aid to Juan Bautista de Toledo, and later as the latter’s successor following his death. He was born in Cantabria and died in Madrid, he “joined the army and participated in Prince Philip's two tours of Europe. His visits to Valladolid in 1559 and Alcala de Henares in 1561-1562 correspond to the itinerary of Prince Charles, whose educational milieu may have included Herrera. In 1563, he was hired as an assistant to Juan Bautista de Toledo, first architect of the Escorial, who had worked as Michelangelo's deputy at Saint Peter's between 1546 and 1548.” (Ana Mozo).
An example of a smaller broadside (450 x 290 mm) entitled Beschreibung und Abcontrafeyung das Closter S. Laurenty, gelegen in Escuriali, attributed to Franciscus a Dort and Philipp von Ohr, was noted by Tony Campell in the Imago Mundi Journal Chronicle for 1982-83 as having been offered by Robert Douwma in List No. 6, Item 640. J.B. Bury references a broadside with a similar title by Franciscus a Dort entitled Beschreibung und Abcontrafeyung des herlichen und weitberümpten Gebewdes und Hauses, genandt das Closter S. Laurentii, gelegen in Escuriali, in Writings on Architecture, Civil and Military, c. 1460 to 1640 (2021). We suspect the two references above are to the same example, as Bury's first article on the subject, “Early printed
references to the Escorial” was issued in 1985, shortly after the discovery of the broadside issued by Douwma.
J. B. Bury, "Early printed references to the Escorial", in Iberia: studies in honour of H. V. Livermore (ed. R. O. W. Goertz), Calgary 1985, plates I-VI.
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