Brussels Map 1746 Rapin Plan Print - Brabant, Fortifications, Roads, Rivers

This detailed plan of Brussels, titled Brussels a large and beautiful City in the Dutchy of Brabant, Subject to the Queen of Hungary, and ye Seat of her chief Governor for these Parts, was published in London in 1746. It comes from Tindal's Continuation of Rapin's History, the English edition of the history by Paul de Rapin de Thoyras. The plan shows the fortifications, the town plan itself, the roads, the farms and the rivers around the city, and a decorative cartouche carries the long title. The detail makes it a useful record of how the city and its countryside looked in the middle of the eighteenth century. The sheet is a good example of the plans that illustrated English histories of the age.

The title says that Brussels was subject to the Queen of Hungary and the seat of her chief governor in these parts, a reference to the Habsburg rule of the southern Netherlands at that date. Rapin's history was a standard English-language work, and Tindal's continuation brought it forward through the wars of the period. Plans like this one were made to help the reader follow sieges and marches, so they show the defenses with care. The ornament is left to the cartouche, and the sheet gives a clear view of the walled capital of Brabant.

A collector of military and city plans, a family with roots in Brussels, or a reader of eighteenth-century history will find a lasting gift here. TheMapVault's plan of Bruges from the same history, dated 1740, shows the Flemish city, whereas this sheet shows the Brabant capital six years later. 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. It would suit a study, a library or a hallway equally well.