View of the town of Pozzuoli (left), its bay and in the distance the peninsula with the castle of Baia and the island of Ischia.

CARTOUCHE TOP: The delights of happy Campania.

CARTOUCHE BOTTOM CENTRE: Here an everlasting spring and the warmth of the remaining months produce fruits are twice as large and trees that bear twice as much fruit.

Their travels led Georg Hoefnagel and his companion Ortelius (left, on a knoll) to the Gulf of Baia. Complementing the two engravings in volume II, this view is seen from an elevated point in the east and shows Pozzuoli in the foreground (T) together with the islands of Procida (C) and Ischia (D), the castle of Baia (F-G), the mountain with the Grotto of the Camaean Sybil (O), Lake Averno (P) and the temple of Jupiter (Y), flanked by curving cornucopias overflowing with the abundant gifts of nature in this climatically blessed region. The accompanying texts draw upon a knowledge of the literature of classical antiquity, for instance the remark that Cape Misenum (B) is named after Misenus, Aeneas's trumpeter, who is buried there, or the reference to natural histories, such as that of the Trituli sweat baths (L). This plate is unique in the city atlas because of its colourfulness. At the same time it is an important example of creative talents of the artist, Hoefnagel, who, in collaboration with his travelling companion Ortelius, who is again lavishly praised in the inset text (centre), augments his observations of nature with his knowledge of the classics and natural history. (Taschen)

Braun G. & Hogenberg F. and the Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the most excellent book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully coloured. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. Many plates were engraved after the original drawings of a professional artist, a professional artist, Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600). The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, and the sixth in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel made those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographers Daniel Freese and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Following the original publication of Volume 1 of the Civitates in 1572, seven further editions of 1575, 1577, 1582, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1612 can be identified. Vol.2, first issued in 1575, was followed by further editions in 1597 and 1612. The subsequent volumes appeared in 1581, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1606. The German translation of the first volume appeared from 1574 on, and the French edition from 1575 on.

Several printers were involved: Theodor Graminaeus, Heinrich von Aich, Gottfried von Kempen, Johannis Sinniger, Bertram Buchholtz and Peter von Brachel, who all worked in Cologne.

Georg Braun (1541-1622)

Georg Braun was born in Cologne in 1541. After his studies in Cologne, he entered the Jesuit Order as a novice. 1561, he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562, he received his Magister Artium. Although he left the Jesuit Order, he studied theology, gaining a licentiate in theology.

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590)

Frans Hogenberg was a Flemish and German painter, engraver, and mapmaker. He was born in Mechelen as the son of Nicolaas Hogenberg.

By the end of the 1560s, Frans Hogenberg was employed upon Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in 1570; he is named an engraver of numerous maps. In 1568, he was banned from Antwerp by the Duke of Alva and travelled to London, where he stayed a few years before emigrating to Cologne. He immediately embarked on his two most important works, the Civitates, published in 1572 and the Geschichtsblätter, which appeared in several series from 1569 until about 1587.

Thanks to large-scale projects like the Geschichtsblätter and the Civitates, Hogenberg's social circumstances improved with each passing year. He died as a wealthy man in Cologne in 1590.