Rare and attractively engraved allegorical map, amusingly representing in the form of a typical early 18th Century Battle Plan, the assault of the armed forces of Love on the Island fortress of Manhood, set in the middle of the passionless Frozen Sea.
Surrounding it the artillery batteries of the forces of the Fairer sex bombard the Citadel and its inner bastions, whilst her navy sends cannonades from the surrounding waters of the Frozen Sea using such firepower as beauty, simplicity, languishing looks and other feminine wiles and virtues.
The defences reply with volleys of prudence, industry and experience. The route of the surrendered love-struck is shown leading out of the fortress via the Gates of Wisdom to the lakeside outposts of Advice of Faithful Friends, Deliberation and Information and onward to the Jardin de Plaisir and thence, by subterranean passage, to the insular walled Palace of Love, where to enter might be easy but to depart is impossible without leaving one’s liberty behind.
In the lower left corner the Camp of Love is shown with the tents of its General Cupid, settled in with his forces until the attrition is over and the besieged has surrendered. Below in the form of a detailed and annotated key, all manner of methods are outlined to defend and preserve one’s heart against the attacks of Love.
Richly decorated cartouche top right with Venus in bird-pulled chariot below.
Condition:
Useful
references: Gillian Hill : Cartographical Curiosities #65 pp.55-56; cf F Reitzinger : Mapping Relationships : Allegory, Gender and the Cartographical Image in Eighteenth Century France and England – Imago Mundi 51 [1999] pp.106-130; J B Post Atlas of Fantasy pp.16-17
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