Antique Plan of Milan with Duomo and La Scala Profiles, 1847
US$975
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1847
Mapmaker / artist
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
Publisher
Charles Knight and Co., 22 Ludgate Street, London
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
35 × 43 cm (13.8 × 16.9 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14487-1-26
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.
About this sheet
This is an original antique city plan of Milan, steel engraved and published in the atlas of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The plan shows the compact city inside the ring of its Spanish walls, with the Duomo at the center, the Castello to the northwest and the canals of the Naviglio threading the southern quarters. A band at the foot compares the principal buildings in elevation, among them the Cathedral, the Teatro alla Scala and the Arco della Pace. The outline and water coloring is original hand color, applied by the publisher before the sheet was bound into the volume.
Plate number 190 of the third volume of the Society's atlas, published in London by Charles Knight and Company at 22 Ludgate Street in 1847 and lettered as a new edition corrected to the present time. The Society was founded in 1826 by Lord Brougham to put reliable knowledge within reach of ordinary readers, and its maps were the most accurate cheap maps then available in English. The plate is lettered as drawn by W. B. Clarke and engraved by J. Henshall.
Milan was the capital of Austrian Lombardy when this plan was corrected and the Cinque Giornate rising that began the Italian wars of independence was a year away. The canals drawn here were filled in during the following century, so the sheet records a watery Milan that no longer exists. Framed simply in dark wood or a plain gilt frame it suits a study, a hallway or a dining room, and it is a natural gift for anyone with a tie to the place.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.
This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
