ARTIST: John Ogilby
MEDIUM: Copper plate engraving,
DATE: 1671
EDITION SIZE: 11 3/16 x 13 11/16" (28.4 x 34.8 cm) plus wide margins.
DESCRIPTION: This handsome view shows the port of Santo Domingo, one of the oldest surviving European-established cities in the western hemisphere. Santo Domingo was first founded by Bartholmew Columbus, the brother of Christopher Columbus, in 1497. Established as the capital of Hispaniola, it was the first Spanish colony in the New World. It remained the seat of Spanish power in the Americas until the conquest of Peru and Mexico in the early sixteenth century. In 1499, when the Columbus brothers fell out of favor with the Spanish court, Francisco Bobadilla was made governor of the city, an office he held until 1502 when he was replaced by Don Nicolas de Ovando. It was Ovando who denied Columbus entry into the port, forcing him to spend a year stranded in Jamaica. The city was sacked by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, who demanded a huge ransom before moving on to Cartegena and St. Augustine. This view appeared in John Ogilby’s seminal atlas "America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World," published in London in 1671. Ogilby’s work is an English translation of Arnoldus Montanus’ "Die Nieuwe en onbekende Weereld. . . ," which was produced in Amsterdam earlier the same year. Considered the first encyclopedias of the Americas, both texts are richly illustrated with maps, views, and portraits. With little exception, Ogilby’s work is a direct copy of Montanus’ atlas. Ogilby did expand his atlas by adding fresh material on the English colonies. Illustrated with over 122 magnificent engravings, Ogilby’s America was the most accurate compendium available of the New World.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CONDITION: Good condition, save for some fox marks. Black & white.
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