1684 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED ENGRAVING, PORTRAIT OF ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, ENGINEER FOR LOUIS XIV, FROM “Les travaux de Mars ou L’art de la Guerre” STUDY OF FORTIFICATIONS

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1684 ANTIQUE PORTRAIT OF ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, ENGINEER FOR LOUIS XIV. (Ingenieur des Camps et Armees dv Roy)

 Rare Antique hand-colored engraving titled: 'Allain Manesson Mallet, a Portrait of Allain Manesson Mallet, a military engineer (Ingenieur des Camps et Armees dv Roy… Portvgal).

CLOSE TO 340 YEARD OLD!

An original copperplate engraving, published in Paris in 1684, this page is from the Atlas “L’ Art de la Guerre” (The art of war) & is in great condition especially for its age.

Frontispiece, and a nice little portrait of this famous engineer.

Hand colored engraving on hand laid paper. The right-hand side has been reinforced, as the border in the book was very narrow. It was also engraved slightly out of square. It does not detract from the engraving. The engraving has later colouring and the size of this image is 6 3/4” x 5”.

This portrait came from “Allain Mallet’s Study of Fortifications, from “Les travaux de Mars ou L’art de la Guerre” c.1684. “The Works of Mars or The Art of War”

Allain Manesson Mallet, a master of Mathematics, military Engineer and Geographer to King Louis XIV,,published what was to become some of the most thought after studies of fortifications and the Art of War of the 17th-18th centuries.

If you are looking for something different to collect and an investment in history’s long gone past, you would be hard pressed to find such a variety of styles, as in these very rare miniature plans and maps.

All our prints are guaranteed to be originals. Please study scan carefully to be satisfied.

Allain Manesson Mallet (1630–1706) was a French cartographer and engineer. He started his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV, became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. He also served under the King of Portugal, before returning to France, and his appointment to the court of Louis XIV. His military engineering and mathematical background led to his position teaching mathematics at court.

His major publications were Description de L'Univers (1683) in 5 volumes, and Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre (1684) in 3 volumes which this print comes from..

His Description de L'Universe contains a wide variety of information, including star maps, maps of the ancient and modern world, and a synopsis of the customs, religion and government of the many nations included in his text. It has been suggested that his background as a teacher led to his being concerned with entertaining his readers. This concern manifested itself in the charming harbour scenes and rural landscapes that he included beneath his description of astronomical concepts and diagrams. Mallet himself drew most of the figures that were engraved for this book.