Titelprent voor 'Les plans et profils des principales Villes, et lieux considerables du Duché de Limbourg' van Sébastien Beaulieu de Pontault 1666 - 1670

This is 'Titelprent voor 'Les plans et profils des principales Villes, et lieux considerables du Duché de Limbourg'' by Romeyn de Hooghe, made as an engraving. The composition is immediately striking: a symmetrical arrangement with cherubic figures framing a central cartouche. The texture, achieved through intricate engraving, gives a tangible quality to the clouds, foliage, and even the cherubs' skin. De Hooghe's choice of form here underscores a period obsession with rational ordering and the desire to categorize and understand the world through mapping. Semiotically, the cherubs act as signifiers of a divine blessing on the act of surveying and claiming territory. The heraldic shield above, meticulously detailed, serves as a symbol of power and authority. The artwork's formal structure, with its careful balance and ordered detail, becomes a reflection of the broader cultural project of the time: to impose a sense of order on a world perceived as complex and chaotic. This engraving, therefore, is not just a map; it's a statement about knowledge, power, and the human desire to control and define our surroundings.