An important book containing the rare series of engravings illustrating the battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, containing 56 double-page engraved allegorical plates by Paul Decker (1677-1713), published by Jer

拍品描述

An important book containing the rare series of engravings illustrating the battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, containing 56 double-page engraved allegorical plates by Paul Decker (1677-1713), published by Jeremias Wolff in Augsburg 'Repraesentatio belli, ob successionem in regno Hispanico [.] Der Spanische Successionskrieg [.]' Decker's suite depicts the battles of the complex series of engagements that became known as the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 - 1714). Prompted by the death of the last of the Spanish Habsburg Kings, the childless Charles II, and with a shifting group of alliances and a field of warfare that included not only Continental Europe and the Mediterranean, but also the Caribbean and North America, the War of the Spanish Succession has a case to be a true world war. In part an attempt to check French hegemony, the war featured a number of outstanding victories for the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, including Blenheim, although the war was ultimately, at best, indecisive. Each of Decker's magnificent plates features a single engagement, depicted in the central portion of the plate, the whole image surrounded by a decorative border composed of architectural, allegorical, and armorial symbols and motifs in the Baroque manner, and a descriptive text concerning the battle. Many of the plates feature an additional small vignette of the battlefield keyed to the descriptive text and illustrating the placement of the armies and the key figures involved.

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