Sign In

The First Appearance of the "Restitutio View" of Manhattan.

A foundational map in the cartographic and visual history of New Amsterdam and colonial New York, this is the second state of Hugo Allard’s rare map of the northeastern seaboard, featuring the first appearance of the so-called Restitutio View of Manhattan—an allegorical and topographical depiction of Dutch triumph following the brief recapture of New Amsterdam from the English in August 1673.

Originally based on the 1655 map of Nicolaes Visscher (itself derived from Jan Jansson's c.1651 prototype), this version marks a dramatic reimagining of the Dutch Atlantic narrative. Most striking is the substitution of the earlier, modest Visscher view of New Amsterdam with a new celebratory image, drawn from a different perspective—this time looking west from Brooklyn—showing a thriving, fortified city in Dutch control once again.

Historical Context

This map records a singular moment in the geopolitical struggle for North America. In August 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, a Dutch naval force under Admiral Cornelius Evertsen recaptured New Amsterdam from the English, who had controlled it since 1664 and renamed it New York. The Dutch restored the city’s original name and briefly reestablished their authority in the region. It was a fleeting triumph: the Treaty of Westminster in November 1674 returned the colony to English control in exchange for Suriname. Yet, in the interval between conquest and cession, Hugo Allard issued this revised map—celebrating the Dutch victory and the symbolic restoration of New Netherland—with a striking new view of Manhattan bearing the title “Nieuw-Amsterdam onlangs Nieuw Jorck genaemt, en nu hernomen bij de Nederlanders op den 24 Aug 1673.”

The map forms part of the Janssonius-Visscher series, which served as the chief cartographic expression of Dutch colonial ambitions in northeastern North America. Allard’s version is among the rarest in the series, and this second state (which Burden refers to as a proof, for its lack of Allard's name on the shield in the allegorical scene) is known in only a handful of surviving examples. It was likely produced in the final months of 1673 or very early in 1674.

The Restitutio View of Manhattan

The view of New Amsterdam presented at the base of the map marks the first engraved appearance of what is now commonly referred to as the Restitutio View. The inscription beneath the image reads: “Nieuw-Amsterdam onlangs Nieuw Jorck genaemt, en nu hernomen by de Nederlanders op den 24 Aug 1673,” which translates as “New Amsterdam lately called New York, and now retaken by the Dutch on the 24th of August, 1673.” The image celebrates an ideological and cultural restoration of Dutch order and prosperity, projecting the city as fortified, civilized, and triumphantly reclaimed.

This is the earliest printed view of New Amsterdam taken from the vantage of the Brooklyn shore, looking west across the East River toward the southern tip of Manhattan. The city is shown with an unusually high degree of fortification and military activity. Soldiers are the quay and cannon fire issues from Fort Amsterdam; I. N. Phelps Stokes concludes these are signs of celebration. The portrayal is not intended as a neutral rendering of the city’s appearance, but as a dramatized, symbolic moment of restoration. The viewmaker’s vision conflates architectural detail with patriotic idealism.

The dating of the image can be narrowed through a combination of visual evidence and documentary sources. According to Stokes, the presence of the Lutheran Church inside the city wall, labeled “L” in the key, provides a terminus post quem of October 17, 1673, the date when Governor Anthony Colve ordered the demolition of the original church structure located near the fort. The site depicted in the view corresponds with lot number five in the garden formerly belonging to the Dutch West India Company, located on the west side of Broadway near present-day Rector Street. This lot was granted to the Lutheran congregation by Colve on May 22, 1674. Although there is no record of construction before December 11, 1679, the presence of the church or its placeholder in the image suggests that the drawing was made after the lot was designated for Lutheran use, and before November 10, 1674, when the city was returned to English control under the Treaty of Westminster.

Additional details suggest that the artist drew on a combination of direct observation, local sketches, and possibly verbal descriptions. The Church in the Fort appears for the first time with a single-pitched roof and a belfry on its southern gable, a change likely reflecting repairs undertaken in 1672, when the city allocated funds for the church’s roof restoration. The view also depicts the Heere Gracht, or canal later known as Broad Street, with walls fully sheathed in timber, shown here for the first time in its completed state. Immediately south of the canal are three tall buildings, apparently intended to represent the West India Company’s storehouses, which had featured in earlier Dutch views such as Visscher's. However, land records make clear that the actual buildings stood at least eight lots away from the canal. Their exaggerated size and incorrect placement underscore the propagandistic and reconstructive nature of the engraving.

To the south of the Stadt Huys, or City Hall, the view includes the tavern built in 1670 by Governor Francis Lovelace. This is shown without its distinctive cupola, though earlier plans—particularly the Castello Plan—indicate that the cupola had been installed as early as 1656, following the burgomasters’ request for use of the fort’s bell. The absence of the Burger's Path, an important pedestrian thoroughfare, and the unrealistic density of the buildings near the future Wall Street area, both further confirm that the image idealizes the city’s layout.

Three fortified roundouts along the waterfront are shown prominently, corresponding to the half-moon bastions described in the 1661 memorandum “Description of the Towne of Mannadens.” Their inclusion here appears to borrow from that document rather than from direct observation. These elements, along with other inaccuracies, were repeated in many subsequent versions of the image, including maps published by Carol Allard, Matthäus Seutter, Reinier and Josua Ottens, and John Seller. The view also became the prototype for the engraved plates in the Orbis Habitabilis by Carol Allard, for the Hecatompolis of Petrus Schenk, and for the so-called Mortier and “Ja. Allard” views of the early eighteenth century.

Despite its errors, the Restitutio View represents a decisive turning point in the visual culture of New York. Where earlier views had emphasized frontier simplicity or commercial promise, this image asserts a narrative of military reclamation and imperial pride. Though likely composed in Amsterdam with limited on-site data, it introduced a durable template for imagining Manhattan not just as a place on the map, but as a symbol of contested sovereignty and colonial ambition.

Allegorical Scene

At the heart of the map's ideological message is the allegorical tableau labeled Restitutio ("restoration" or "return" in Latin), placed prominently above the inset view of New Amsterdam. This composition operates as a political emblem, celebrating the Dutch recapture of the city and symbolically reasserting Dutch dominion over the land and its inhabitants. It synthesizes classical allusions with colonial themes, projecting the restoration as a civilizational and moral rectification.

At the center stands a female figure clad in classical armor—in a breastplate with her hair flowing freely under a winged helmet. She is clearly meant to personify the Dutch Republic or Dutch Liberty, depicted in the style of Minerva or Bellona, the Roman goddesses of wisdom and war, respectively. She holds a laurel wreath aloft in a gesture of dominion, extending it symbolically over two kneeling Native American figures. This theatrical pose does not suggest partnership, but rather authority and beneficence: she bestows peace and order, not as an equal, but from above.

Behind her, a male figure in a winged helmet—recognizable as Mercury, Roman god of commerce, communication, and travel—leans in. He holds a caduceus, the traditional staff twined with serpents, which represents trade, negotiation, and safe passage. Mercury’s presence reinforces the Dutch identity as seaborne merchants and civilized negotiators, not just soldiers or conquerors. His close proximity to the female figure suggests that the restored Dutch order is both martial and mercantile.

In front of the two classical figures, a Native man kneels and presents a small model of a fortified settlement. This is not an incidental detail: it represents a stylized version of a palisaded village, such as those built by the Lenape or Iroquois peoples. The gesture functions on several levels. On one hand, it appears to be a symbolic offering—a visual shorthand for submission or alliance. On the other, it may also serve as a visual claim: that the land and its existing inhabitants are being incorporated into the Dutch colonial system. The second Native figure crouches beside the first, possibly a second chief or a symbolic witness, while in the background, other Indigenous people paddle canoes, maintaining the ethnographic framing popular in Dutch map imagery of the Americas.

European figures (Dutch colonists) gather around the woman's feet, expressing heartfelt thanks for their deliverance from foreign occupation.

Together, the scene imagines an idealized version of empire: victorious, dignified, and benevolent. The Dutch are shown not as aggressors, but as civilizers restoring order and trade to a chaotic frontier. Native figures are included not for realism but to complete the narrative of colonial restoration and submission. The moment of Restitutio, then, is not just about reclaiming a city—it is about reasserting a worldview in which Dutch authority, classical virtue, and commercial prosperity all operate in harmony.

The Metropolitan Museum attributes the etching of the view to Romeyne de Hooghe. The allegorical scene certainly matches his style and is almost certainly by him.

The Map

The main body of the map is derived from the earlier work of Nicolaes Visscher c.1655, which itself built on Janssonius’s 1651 cartographic foundation. The geographic content reflects mid-17th-century Dutch knowledge of the northeastern seaboard, showing Nova Belgica, Nieuw Nederlandt, Nieu Iarsey, and Nieuw Iorck, along with New England, Virginia, and parts of New France. Place names are rendered in Dutch, and numerous settlements and tribal regions are marked inland. Decorative elements—such as animals, native villages, and European vessels—are scattered across the map, drawn in the popular style of De Bry and the Blaeu school.

Significantly, this second state of the map incorporates a newly engraved fleet of Dutch warships off the southern coast of Long Island, representing the squadron that captured the city. A key identifying buildings and sites on Manhattan has also been added, further integrating the updated view with the map’s geographic narrative.

Rarity

This proof state with the Restitutio View (second overall state) is exceptionally rare. In 1996, Burden recorded only one known example "present location unknown". Subsequently, two additional examples surfaced, with the present map being a previously unknown fourth exemplar.