Bidspirit auction | Bornes / Zahara. Colónia, finais

Bornes / Zahara. Colónia, finais do séc. XVI (c. 1596). - [BORNOS / ZAHARA DE LA SIERRA]. Bornes / Zahara. Georg BRAUN; Frans HOGENBERG (eds.), after a drawing by Georgius Hoefnagel. [Cologne, Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg, late 16th century (c. 1596); date “1564” on the drawing]. Engraving; 425 × 535 mm (sheet). View of Bornos with small loss of paper; stains. Sheet with three Andalusian views: in the upper half, panorama of Bornos (“Bornes”), a town situated among gentle hills, with houses grouped around the church and castle, cultivated fields and figures of shepherds and travellers in the foreground; indications of the cardinal points “Oriens” and “Occidens”. In the lower half, two distinct views of Zahara de la Sierra (“Zahara”): at left, the rugged sierra with the castle on the summit, rocky terrain and horsemen on a winding path; at right, the fortified town climbing up the rocky slope, with the castle dominating the ensemble, hills in the background and figures of walkers in the foreground. At the centre of the lower margin appears “ Depingebat Georgius Houfnaglius anno 1564 ”, recording Joris Hoefnagel’s original drawing. Verso with descriptive text in Latin under the headings BORNES and ZAHARA , paged “12”, forming part of volume V of the Civitates orbis terrarum . The views record two important fortified centres of the former “kingdom” of Seville, shaped by the rugged relief of the Sierra de Cádiz and by their strategic role on the frontier between Christians and Muslims. Included in the monumental city atlas Civitates orbis terrarum , published in six volumes between 1572 and 1617, these representations are based on drawings by Georg (Joris) Hoefnagel from 1564, made during his travels in the Iberian Peninsula, and constitute some of the earliest known panoramas of Bornos and Zahara de la Sierra.