Views of the environs of Brussels.

Oblong album with 24 engravings, numbered in pencil, 13,7 x 20 cm, laid paper (all pasted on album sheets), trimmed to the borderline, pl. 8 and 20 signed in plate with monogram "H.V.L.EX" and "H.C.F[ecit]."

Cardb. covers, cloth binding (corners rubbed).

Rare set of the complete series (24 pl.) of Collaert's views around Brussels. Later editions by C.C. Visscher ascribed authorship to Hans Bol, but also Jacob Grimmer is suggested as possible "inventor". The views represent villages, castles, and abbeys in an intimate, direct manner based closely on studies from life. Their naturalistic approach differs from that of the imaginary, mythological panoramas produced by Italian landscape artists of the period. By publishing regional landscapes Van Luyck met the needs of a clientele which was increasingly interested in regional geography; a taste first generated by Hieronymus Cock in 1560. Printed within the images are sometimes titles identifying the places pictured, such as Etterbeek, Schaarbeek or Elsene. A 20th-c. ms. inscription on the first page of the album mistakenly identifies the series as the second state published by Visscher, yet the present series is the first unnumbered state published by Hans Van Luyck in Antwerp.
Ref. Hollstein IV:149-172.1. - A. Diels, "Wat d'yser can bemaelen. Prenten van de Antwerpse graveurs familie Collaert (1550-1630)", Bruxelles, 2005, cat. 12.