The depiction of the Igel Column shown here comes from Joan Blaeu’s (1596 - 1673) Novum ac Magnum Theatrum Urbium Belgicae from 1649. The Blaeu family ran a print shop in Amsterdam for more than three generations. With its particular focus on the publication of cartographic works, it established itself as one of the most important European publishing houses of the early modern period as of the 17th century.
In the engraving, the tomb of the Secundinii, which is described in detail in Latin on the back of the page, takes up almost the entire height of the image field. It is captured from the same perspective as in the engravings by Abraham Ortelius and Frans Hogenberg. The architecture shown in the background also corresponds to earlier graphic representations of the monument. The three prints of the Igel Column displayed here thus exemplify how knowledge gained and visualised through intensive study of antiquity was communicated and continuously received in humanist networks.
Further Reading
- Dragendorff, Hans / Krüger, Emil: Das Grabmal von Igel, Trier 1924.
- Klöckner, Anja: Die sog. Igeler Säule in Druckgraphiken des 16.-18. Jahrhunderts, in: Laura Di Carlo / Johannes Lipps / Anna Pawlak / Daniel R. F. Richter (Ed.): Andere Ästhetik meets Andere Ästhetik. Visualisierungen von Antiken nördlich der Alpen in der frühneuzeitlichen Druckgraphik, Tübingen.
- Koller, Ariane: Weltbilder und die Ästhetik der Geographie. Die Offizin Blaeu und die niederländische Kartographie der Frühen Neuzeit, Affalterbach 2014 (Studien zu Kunstgeschichte des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 13).
