4 untitled plates from The Tapestry Hangings Of The House Of Lords
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A fine group of four plates recording the chasing of the Spanish Armada from its sighting off Lands End to its containment off Calais prior to its dispersion. Designed by H. Gravelot the series sets into elaborate figured and decorated framed surrounds pairs of maps, on each sheet, copied from Robert Adams original engravings produced in 1588. John Pine's series of engravings, published in 1739 included the only record of a set of tapestries that once hung in the House of Lords depicting the Defeat of the Armada and which were lost in 1834 and a calamatious fire. We are offering four of five plates recording this momentous event tracing the action along England's south coast. Unusually each sheet comprised three engravings - the surrounding frame printed in black ink and each map, engraved on a separate plate and printed into the frame in a distinctive light blue/grey ink. Each plate is decorated with portraits, scenes and figures, ships, banners, weaponry and mythological figure and the 8 maps plot the harassment of the Spaniards as the English fleet falls into battle order behind. Plate 1. Queen Elizabeth oversees a magnificent roccocco design with naval mythology and maps showing The Spanish Fleet approaching The Lizard, being sighted and the English leaving Plymouth and falling in chase. Plate 2. Lord Howard of Effingham looks down upon a scene which shows Spanish prisoners tied and bound as the maps show progress along the Devon coastline from Plymouth to Torbay. Plate 3. Sir Francis Drake watches over a scene of the redistribution of swag and the coralling of prisoners as the fleets approach the Isle of Wight. Plate 4. Martin Frobisher and John Hawkins observe a scene of courtiers??? whilst the maps plot the ongoing chase past the Solent to the narrowest point of the English Channel where the Spanish fleet gathered outside Calais before its final flight up the North Sea and dispersal and disintegration. These four sheets are finely engraved, in good condition with minor marginal stains or scuffs but would create a wonderfully decorative set of historical plates.
region: Coastal Charts & British Islands
mapmakers:
J. Adams
J. Pine
place and date of publication:
London 1739
medium and colour:
copperplate, Original colour
ref:
43411
size in mm: 365 by 600mm (14.25 by 23.5 inches). literature: Map Collectors' Circle, 4. Price: £ 3600£ 2160 |
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