Ottoman-Habsburg Wars (1521-1791)
Images from eight wars fought between 1570 and 1718
The Siege of Malta, 1565 (Malta, independent political entity) 35°55ʹ00ʺN 14°26ʹ00ʺ.Plate I: title page with the figures of Virtue and Fortune
published 1582Etching and engraving; printed on paper; mounted on paper (Mount Type A); gilt edges bottom and right | 32.0 x 44.8 cm (image and sheet) | RCIN 721033.a
Title sheet of a set of fifteen numbered prints, including the title-sheet, showing the Great Siege of Malta between 18 May and 11 September 1565 by the Turks, commanded by Kara Mustafa Pasha (c.1500-7 August 1580), and defended by the Knights of the Order of St John under Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette (4 February 1495-21 August 1568), resulting in the abandonment of the siege by the Turks on the arrival of a Spanish fleet and army commanded by García Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Marquis of Villafranca (29 August 1514-31 May 1577). The Ottoman Empire (1500-1606): Conflicts in the Mediterranean (1532-1565).
Formerly kept in a rough buff paper folder on which is written, in black pencil and red ink, the old heading and, in a later hand, in black pencil: a-p.
Matteo Perez d'Aleccio (1547-1616) (designer, engraver and publisher) [bottom left:] IN ROMA · APPRESSO MATTEO PEREZ D'ALLECIO · FOG · PRIMO · [to right of pedestal:] ·1582 ·
Subject(s)
Lala Kara Mustapha Pasha (c. 1500-1580)Süleyman I, Sultan of the Turks (1494/5-1566)Jean Parisot de Valette (1495-1568)Watermark: Anvil with hammer in circle [see Woodward no. 230]
Condition: no fold lines; a few brown marks; bottom left corner cut off
32.0 x 44.8 cm (image and sheet)
cropped (platemark)
41.4 x 53.6 cm (mount)
Printed title:
I VERI RITRATTI / della guerra, & dell' assedio, & assalti dati al: / la Isola di Malta / Dall' armata Turchesca l'anno. 1565. nel Pōtificato della / Santa memoria di PIO IIII DE' MEDICI· et sotto il felice gouerno / del uitorioso Capitano, e gran Maestro di Malta / FRA GIOVANNI PARISOTTO DI VALLETTA [the right, by a winged victory: a female holding a staff in her right hand, and a laurel wreath in her left hand, surmounted by the arms of Pope Pius IV; a horizontal line is engraved above '1565']
Printed title:
Cum Priuilegio / GREG·XIII· PONT·MAX· / Ad Decennium / MDLXXXII· [below title cartouche, in a smaller cartouche]
Dedication:
[left, in a panel, a dedication to Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici; text begins:] Certa cosa è Illmo e Rmo Sige: che nella guerra succes: / sa nell' Isola di MALTA l'Anno ·1565· [a horizontal line is engraved over the date.]
Additional text:[in a panel, right:] Brieue ritratto dei successi & assalti dati dalla Armata / del Turco all Isola di Malta l'anno i565.
Annotations:
George III heading: Malta.
Other annotations: (Recto) none. (Verso) [top left, on mount, black pencil:] II/37a [top left, on mount, red pencil:] 1/33.
George III catalogue entry:
Malta Ritratti della Guerra e dell’ Assedio et Assalti dati alla Isola di Malta dall’ Armata Turchesca l’anno 1565: da Matteo Perez di Allecio, 1582. 15 foglie.
Subject(s)
Malta, independent political entity (35°55ʹ00ʺN 14°26ʹ00ʺE)
Bibliographic reference(s)
Albert Ganado, I VERI RITRATTI della guerra & dell’assedio & assalton dati alla Isola di Malta dall’armata Turchesca l’anno 1565. Matteo Perez di Alecio. Roma 1585: Matteo Perex d’Aleccio’s engravings of the Siege of Malta 1565, ed. Charles Cini, Florence (2009).
Albert Ganado with Maurice Agius-Vadalà, A study in depth of 143 maps representing the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. Malta (1994-5) 2 vols. BL LB.31.b.14813
Albert Ganado, Valletta Città Nuova. A map history (1566-1600), Malta (2003). BL Maps Ref.J.10.(2.)
Albert Ganado, ‘Matteo Perez d’Aleccio’s engravings of the Siege of Malta 1565’, Proceedings of History Week 1983. [Malta: The Malta Historical Society (1984):125-161.]
M. McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Part II, Architecture, Topography and Military Maps, 3 vols, London 2019, cat. no. 2666
Page revisions
25 May 2024
Current version