description description

The fort and Bay of Nieuw Vlissingen, Tobago

Image

The fort and Bay of Nieuw Vlissingen, Tobago

Vingboons, Johannes / Gerritsz., Hessel

Title on object: Baye ende Fortres van Nieuw Vlissingen op ’t Eylant Tobago

The map shows the coastline of the bay of Nieuw Vlissingen (now Great Courland Bay) and the eponymous WIC fort there. Vingboons based this map on one by Hessel Gerritsz from around 1630; fort Nieuw Vlissingen itself was entirely renovated and rechristened Fort Jacobus in 1654.

Other copies: Nationaal Archief VELH0619.100 and VEL576; Vatican Library Reg. Lat. 2105, fol. 82r. (The latter digitally available in the online collection of the Vatican.)

Part of the Carte di Castello, collected by Cosimo de Medici III in 1667 and 1669 during his tours through Europe. Cosimo III bought the 66 watercolours by Vingboons in December 1667 in Amsterdam, through mediation of Pieter Blaeu.

Please contact Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana for reuse and copyrights.

Sources and literature

Corbellini, Sabrina and Cattaneo, Angelo, The Global Eye: Dutch Spanish and Portugese maps in the collections of the Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici (2019)