La Ville de Geneve - F. de Belleforest 1575

📜 Description
Antique woodcut view depicting the city of Geneva, published in Paris in 1575 by François de Belleforest within the celebrated “Cosmographie Universelle de tout le Monde”. The composition represents the Swiss city and its surrounding territory through a panoramic and descriptive Renaissance perspective, consistent with sixteenth-century cosmographic production. The image highlights the fortified urban center, bridges, towers, churches, waterways, and the natural landscape surrounding Lake Geneva and the Rhône River, arranged in a clear and visually dynamic composition. The heraldic coat of arms positioned in the upper left corner reinforces the civic and representative character of the work, while the extensive French descriptive text engraved below the image integrates geographical and historical information concerning the city. The woodcut linework, precise and lively, combines documentary function with illustrative effectiveness, offering a structured visual interpretation of Geneva during the Renaissance period. A representative example of French editorial production of the sixteenth century, the work stands as an important iconographic testimony of Geneva within the tradition of Renaissance descriptive cosmography and antique city views.

📚 Historical-Artistic Note
François de Belleforest was among the principal figures of sixteenth-century French cosmography, renowned for encyclopedic works dedicated to the description of the known world. The “Cosmographie Universelle de tout le Monde”, published in Paris by Nicolas Chesneau and Michel Sonnius, represents one of the major French geographical compilations of the Renaissance, expanding upon earlier cosmographic traditions. The illustrated woodcut views included in the publication played a fundamental role in the diffusion of urban and geographical knowledge through richly descriptive images intended for an educated European audience.

🧾 Technical Sheet
Type: Antique view
Author / Maker: François de Belleforest
Publisher / Printer: Nicolas Chesneau – Michel Sonnius
Place: Paris
Period: 1575
Material: Paper
Technique: Woodcut
Subject / Title: “La Ville de Geneve avec sa situation”
Edition / Print Run: From “Cosmographie Universelle de tout le Monde”
Dimensions: Sheet approx. 23 x 34 cm; printed area approx. 16.5 x 25.5 cm

🔍 Condition Report
Sheet in very good overall condition with light and normal signs of age. Well-inked and clearly legible woodcut impression. French typographic text on verso.