French Cartography: Creatively Decorative..

French Département maps

Fortunately, an over-active imagination is not the only creative talent for which French cartographers are known. They are also famous for their ornate decoration. Some of the most elaborately decorated maps ever made are Victor Levasseur’s maps of the French départements.

A French engineer and geographer, Levasseur flourished as a mapmaker between 1838 and 1854. His département maps are easily recognisable. For his grand Atlas National Illustre, published in Paris circa 1854, he surrounded each département map with a beautifully engraved narrative of the region, including illustrations of produce, commerce, coats of arms, local landmarks, peasants in costume, historically important people and scrolls of statistics.One of the most beautiful of all his maps is this map of the department of Gironde published in Paris circa 1852. Vew it on our website at
http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/p-36-gironde-aquitaine-france-department-beautiful-antique-map-levasseur-c1852.aspx