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The First Modern Map of The Italian Tyrol -- From The Collection of General Nicolas Charles Oudinot

Rare first edition of Joseph von Sperg's map of part of the Italian Alps, extending from Lago di Garda to the Belluno and Bolzano regions of northeastern Italy, the first modern map of the Southern Tyrol.

The map is the most important work prior to the Atlas Tyrolensis of Peter Anich and Blasius Hueber. -

Joseph von Spergs (also Sperges), who was involved in the lengthy negotiations for the establishment of the controversial border between Tyrol and the Republic of Venice. Spergs began work on this remarkable map in the 1750s, which was based on his own surveys. When Spergs was transferred to Vienna, on the recommendation of Weinhart Anich, he commissioned the outstanding surveys to be completed and concluded by Peter Ansich, who would go on to complete his own wall map of the full Tyrol in 1774. The area from Klausen over Bolzano to Merano as well as the Sarntal were measured by Anich in 1759 and the map compiled and published in 1762.

The map of Spergs, which represented the Principality of Trent or the county of Tyrol south of the line Vinschgau and Grödental, was published in 1762 in f4 sheets. It inspired the government in the 1760s to grant the financial resources necessary to measure to survey and map the Northern Tyrol.

Spergs map was engraved by Anton Weinkopf, first in Vienna in 1759 and later in Innsbruck.

Around 1790, the Artaria Company in Vienna printed a few copies of this map, adding the credit "Vienna apud Artaria & Soc". In about 1805, Artaria reissued the map with a French Title: "Le Tyrol Meridional".

Joseph von Spergs

Joseph Freiherr von Sperges at Palenz and Reisdorf (1725-1791) was a Tyrolean jurist, historian and Austrian diplomat. He is most famous for his work on the first accurate map of South Tyrol and a revision of the administrative system for Lombardy.

Joseph von Spergs studied at the University of Innsbruck and studied ancient inscriptions as well as local knowledge and collected sources on the history of Tyrol. After completing his studies, he became honorary secretary of the city's governor in Trento in 1748, and in August 1750, as secretary of a commission, which, by negotiating in Rovereto, would settle the border disputes between the Tyrol and Veneto, a border for which he conducted the first modern survey.

Spergs was commissioned in 1754 to produce for the first time a map of South Tyrol, which was finally published in 1762. The final surveys in the Bolzano and Merano region, however, were made by the peasant cartographer Peter Anich, who in the following years took up an even more accurate map, the Atlas Tyrolensis .

General Nicolas Charles Oudinot

A final detail that gives this map particular importance is the identity of its former owner, Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Comte Oudinot, 1st Duc de Reggio (1767 - 1848), and a Marshal of France. A fierce fighter, the man was wounded no less than 34 times during his military career!

The only one of nine siblings to live past childhood, Oudinot joined the army without a noble pedigree, and therefore without a chance of high promotion. That all changed in 1792, with the outbreak of the French Revolution. In that year, Oudinot was elected lieutenant-colonel of the third battalion of the volunteers of the Meuse. After transfer to the regular army and admirable service in Belgium, he was promoted to the rank of general in June 1794 after the Battle of Kaiserslautern.

From Belgium he shifted to the German and Swiss fronts, where he fought as a general of division and chief of staff to Andre Massena. Oudinot stood out at the Battle of Monzambano so much so that Napoleon himself presented him with a sword of honor, now known as the Legion d'Honneur. Napoleon did not forget him after he established his empire; now Emperor Napoleon recognized Oudinot again, this time with a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Oudinot continued to acquit himself commendably. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, commanded a company of grenadiers nicknamed for him, and fought in battles from Vienna to Poland. In 1808, he was appointed governor of Erfurt and was made a Count of the French Empire. Finally, in 1809, after the Battle of Wagram, he was named a Marshal of France, France's highest military distinction.

Oudinot continued to serve as an administrator in Holland and on the battlefield in the Russian campaign. After Napoleon's fall, Oudinot joined the Bourbon Restoration and stayed loyal to the King even after Napoleon's return in 1815. For his loyalty and service, he was named a peer of the realm. He served until 1823, when he participated in the French invasion of Spain. Then, he turned again to political and administrative appointments; he died while serving as governor of Les Invalides at the veterans' hospital in Paris.

Provenance

Purchased at auction in Paris, from Artcuriel, Collections from the Castle of Malicorne Marshal Oudinot's Historical Souvenirs, June 13, 2017 (Lot 156).