Belgium Map 1851 Tallis Brussels & Waterloo Scene Vignettes Print - Brussels, Antwerp, Waterloo, Luxembourg

This full-color map of Belgium was published in London in 1851 by John Tallis and engraved for R. Montgomery Martin's Illustrated Atlas of the World. The map extends into the rest of the Low Countries, but its detail is centered on Belgium and curiously extended into Luxembourg, even though Luxembourg was a fully independent state at the time. The provinces of Belgium are shown in tasteful bright colors and named, and the topography is drawn in as well, so the sheet is useful for study as well as for display. A coat of arms is displayed, and the catalog describes it as a full-color example of Tallis's marvelous map of the country. The sheet is typical of the Tallis atlas, with its bright color, its decorative border and its lively scenes drawn in the margins of the map.

Three vignettes in delicate pastel coloring surround the map: the Altar of St. Gudule in Brussels, Monuments on the Plains of Waterloo, and Antwerp Cathedral. Tallis was one of the last great decorative map makers, and his maps are prized for the wonderful vignettes they often contain. He came to London in the 1840s, began with a series of London street views, and published the Illustrated World Atlas for the Great Exhibition of 1851, one of the last series of decorative world maps ever produced. John Rapkin engraved the maps, and the sheets were later reissued by the London Printing and Publishing Company, which left the Tallis name intact.

A collector of decorative atlas maps, a family with roots in Brussels, Antwerp or Luxembourg, or a reader of Napoleonic history will find a lively gift here. TheMapVault's Tallis plan of Brussels, issued in the same year, shows the capital in close-up, whereas this sheet gives the whole country with its three scenes. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print.