Sébastien de Beaulieu

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Sébastien de Beaulieu around 1665

Sébastien de Beaulieu (* around 1612 in France , † on August 10, 1674 in Paris ), full name with titles Sébastien de Pontault, seigneur de Beaulieu-le-Donjon, chevalier de l'ordre de Saint-Michel , was a French military cartographer , Officer and publisher, whose work in the time of the wars of conquest of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV fell.

A soldier at an early age, Beaulieu was an observer for more than thirty years in theaters of war in France, Lorraine, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Burgundy, Italy, Spain and Germany and had many vedute and plans drawn by them and engraved in copper . The works were always published as flyers immediately after the events and later became a good source of current war reports for military historians. This series of leaflets ended with the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.

After 1660, Sébastien de Beaulieu published books in quart format on various regions under the main title Plans et Profils des principales Villes ... , in which maps, views and plans of places and fortresses that had played a role in the war were shown . For this he also published in several folios a collection of his broadsheets from decades of production of war reporting. Derived from the different sheet sizes, these works are called today to distinguish the small and the large Beaulieu .

Streak of life

In 1627, Sébastien de Beaulieu, just 15 years old, joined the French army. He went through an officer career, was among other things entrusted with the supervision of the entire artillery (controleur general d'artillerie) in the Artois and in 1638 was appointed royal engineer and geographer (engineer & geographe du roy).

Sébastien de Beaulieu got to know the war itself soon after joining the army: in 1628 in La Rochelle , where he took part in the siege, as did Jacques Callot (1592–1635), whose engravings of these battles Beaulieu, who undoubtedly was strongly influenced by Callot must have known quite early on. (A little later the paths of the two crossed again during the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) during the siege of Veillane .)

Vedute of the city of Mainz from 1644. In the cartouche a portrait of the Duke of Enghien ; such glorification of kings and generals arose in the Thirty Years' War. Sébastien de Beaulieu designed many cityscapes with such elaborate accessories

After the fall of La Rochelle, Sébastien de Beaulieu took part in many campaigns against Spanish and Imperial troops over the next few years and decades. On the single-sheet prints that he made on the occasion of the war of Louis XIII. with Spain, his participation in individual campaigns can be traced: 1630 Pignerol / Piemont , 1631 Moyenvic / Lorraine , 1636 Corbie / Picardy , 1637 Landrecy / Hainaut , 1639 Hesdin , 1640 Arras and 1641 Bapaume all in the Artois and 1642 Collioure and Perpignan in Roussillon . - Also as after the death of Louis XIII. moved the theater of war to Germany in May 1643 under the energetic leadership of Mazarin , Sébastien de Beaulieu was there as an observer and created 25 engravings of the war on German soil for the period from 1643 to 1644 alone. (In the much longer time before that, there are 17 pieces.)

Sébastien de Beaulieu was wounded several times, the most severe probably in 1644 outside Philippsburg , where he lost his right arm. After that he drew with his left hand, mentally unbroken, and continued to be an observer in various theaters of war: after the Thirty Years' War in the fights with the Fronde (1648–1653) and in the eternal war against Spain (1635–1659) .

At some point (probably after 1650) Sébastien de Beaulieu stepped up his activities as a publisher and took up his permanent residence in Paris: sur le Quay & proche le grand Portail de l'Eglise des Grands Augustins joignant l'enseigne des deux globes, au bout du Pont -New . The same address is also passed down as follows: sur le Quai des Grands-Augustins, près du grand portail de l'eglise, au bout de Pont Neuf ce qui est très proche de la boutique des Berey . This is where the bound editions of the Little and Big Beaulieu emerged over time.

When Sébastien de Beaulieu died in August 1674, he was still busy with other editions of his works. His niece, Reine de Beaulieu, then continued this work and published a number of volumes.

job description

One of Beaulieu's plans: Siege of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The deployment of the French troops on July 12, 1645

For his flyers for war reports, Sébastien de Beaulieu first drew views (vedutas) of the cities that were affected by the war; Battle and siege plans soon followed. (During his lifetime he published 68 views and 66 plans; his successors later published 5 vedutas and 22 plans.)

Sébastien de Beaulieu had two great role models for his work: Jacques Callot and Christophe Tassin († 1660). From Callot, whose influence is clear in the Great Beaulieu , Beaulieu adopted many forms of representation in the vedute and brought out details (mostly in the foreground) of people, groups of people, houses, ships, mills, trees, etc. The Beaulieu plans are also meticulously meticulous: individual units and commanders of friend and foe are listed by name, and landscapes and topography are also precisely reproduced. - From Tassin, a direct predecessor of Beaulieu as a royal engineer and geographer, the influence of the Little Beaulieu can be seen. About an earlier war Louis XIII. In Lorraine, Tassin published an anthology, from which Beaulieu took over six sheets for his first edition of Lorraine, but not afterwards.

Until 1644, for example, the draftsmen and engravers Stefano della Bella (1610–1664) and François Collignon (1610–1687) were involved in the design of the sheets, alongside Sébastien de Beaulieu as co-responsible for the design. After that, Beaulieu, now experienced enough himself, could do without such great support. Nicolas Cochin (1610–1686) and the Perelles, among others, came into play as engravers .

literature

  • Wolfgang Reiniger: Beaulieu: The copper engravings to the campaigns of Ludwig XIV., Especially to those in Germany: Catalog. W. Reiniger, Bad Kreuznach 2000. ISBN 3 923714-06-8
  • Ruthhardt Oehme: The history of cartography of the German southwest: With 16 color plates and 42 black and white maps. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Konstanz / Stuttgart 1961. Page 110

Web links

Commons : Sébastien de Beaulieu  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ This collection has made one forget that it was once all individually published leaflets and so Sébastien de Beaulieu is hardly ever mentioned in the special literature on single-sheet prints.
  2. ↑ Beaulieu held various ranks and functions in the army. For example, he was sergent de bataille des camps & armees (non-commissioned officer as accounting officer), ayde (adjutant) des camps des armees, commissaire (paymaster) ordinaire d'artillerie, controleur provincial en la ville d'Arras, marechal (non-commissioned officer) du camp etc., but never - as is mostly claimed in the sources - Field Marshal, who is referred to as Maréchal de France. (Information according to cleaner)
personal data
SURNAME Beaulieu, Sébastien de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sébastien de Pontault, Seigneur de Beaulieu, le Donjon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French military cartographer, officer and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1612
PLACE OF BIRTH France
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1674
Place of death Paris