#anton van den wijngaerde

[useless-catalanfacts]

Here are some of Anton van den Wijngaerde's paintings. He was a Flemish artist who travelled Europe in the 16th century, and thanks to his paintings we get a view of what these cities were like at the time.

After studying painting in the Netherlands and travelling Italy and England, he was commissioned by Philip II, king of the Hispanic Monarchy (remember that at the time the Hispanic Monarchy ruled over many different kingdoms, including Flanders), to paint accurate birds-eye views of cities of his kingdoms. Of course, at the time they didn't have drones nor planes, and not all cities have mountains or hills around them from where the artist could paint it. For this reason, his work was much more difficult, and Wijngaerde had to create these views from a mix of his sketches from different perspectives and various maps, to show a view of the real city up to details like streets disposition.

Following the king's commission, Wijngaerde travelled around the different kingdoms (only the European possessions) to paint their cities. In the year 1563, he travelled around the Catalan Countries, where he painted the cities you can see in this post. In order: Xàtiva (Kingdom of València, modern-day Valencian Country), València (Kingdom of València), the Albufera lagoon next to València (Kingdom of València), Sagunt (Kingdom of València), Tortosa (Catalonia), Tarragona (Catalonia), Barcelona (Catalonia) seen from the sea and seen from the Montjuïc mountain, the mountain of Montserrat (Catalonia) and its monastery, Lleida (Catalonia), and Cervera (Catalonia).