|
||
|
|
|
|
A finely detailed English map of the southern Low Countries, engraved by John Senex F.R.S., one of the leading English mapmakers of the early 18th century. The map covers the historic provinces of Hainaut (Hainault), Namur, and Cambrai, and extends to parts of Flanders, Picardy, Luxembourg, and the Ardennes. This region was of enormous military and political importance during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and the map was issued in direct response to British military involvement in the theater.
The map is dedicated to John Richmond Webb, Lieutenant General of Her Majesty’s Forces and a Member of Parliament, who played a prominent role in the Allied campaigns under the Duke of Marlborough. The decorative title cartouche at upper right features allegorical figures of martial and civic authority, while the dedication at lower right is flanked by cherubs and martial trophies. Towns are marked with red spot color and relief is shown pictorially with stylized wooded areas and rivers, all engraved with considerable precision.
Place names such as Ramillies, Philippine, and Charleroi would have resonated strongly with contemporary viewers following the progress of the war. Of particular note is the labeling of a region in the southeast as “Country of Famine”, a stark reference to the war-torn and devastated state of the region during the prolonged conflict.
Senex, who later became Geographer to Queen Anne and a Fellow of the Royal Society, issued this map in part to inform an English audience of continental geography at a time of growing imperial and military engagement. It combines decorative appeal with up-to-date political relevance, representing a key moment in early 18th-century British cartography.
John Senex (1678-1740) was one of the foremost mapmakers in England in the early eighteenth century. He was also a surveyor, globemaker, and geographer. As a young man, he was apprenticed to Robert Clavell, a bookseller. He worked with several mapmakers over the course of his career, including Jeremiah Seller and Charles Price. In 1728, Senex was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, a rarity for mapmakers. The Fellowship reflects his career-long association as engraver to the Society and publisher of maps by Edmund Halley, among other luminaries. He is best known for his English Atlas (1714), which remained in print until the 1760s. After his death in 1740 his widow, Mary, carried on the business until 1755. Thereafter, his stock was acquired by William Herbert and Robert Sayer (maps) and James Ferguson (globes).
![[ Brussels ] Bruxella](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/98512.jpg)
![Carte du Pays et Diocese de Reims [Map of the Country and Diocese of Reims]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/67548.jpg)
![[ Brugge ] Brugae, Flandricarum Urbium Ornamenta](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/98283.jpg)
![[Siege of Oostende] Ostende Wie es itziger zeit gelegen, daeraus zu sehen wie weit die Ertzherzog hinan und hinein geruckt . . .](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/39971.jpg)