This is a beautiful example of Rocque’s rare and magnificent plan of Geneva, here in its third and last state.

Initially, Geneva seems like an odd city to include in Rocque’s distinguished canon of work, but it was an extremely important way point for French Huguenot (Protestant) exiles in the late 17th century. A sizeable proportion went to Switzerland but many of them would also travel to London. Rocque’s family were Huguenots and indeed, the family spent a short period of time in Geneva before moving to London. There was a large community of Huguenots in the city and it is likely that this map was aimed at this market.

The map is beautifully engraved and inspired by the magnificent plans published by the firm of Matthias Seutter in Germany who produced a series of heavily fortified city plans prominent in the War of the Spanish Succession. They did not produce one of Geneva however. Instead, the source map for Rocque’s work was a map produced in London in 1743 by one of his earlier collaborators, the Swiss cartographer Pierre Martel. Martel had been employed by a military engineer, de la Ramiere, to survey the fortifications of Geneva in 1727. He then travelled to Chamonix in 1742 where he drew the glaciers in the Alps before publishing an account of his travels in London 1744, illustrated with engravings of three of his drawings.

In 1750, he collaborated with Rocque in producing a volume of fortified city plans in France and Germany, published as a teaching aid for military engineers in designing fortifications.

It is not known if Martel was also a Huguenot but it is a strong possibility.

Rocque’s rendition of Martel’s map of Geneva was first issued in 1760, two years before his death and when he was living in Dublin. Fundamentally, it is the same although there is more detail on this later map. Another edition of this map has been traced to the same year but now dedicated to Peter Gaussen, a French Huguenot financier whose family originated in Geneva and who would later go on to become the first foreign governor of the Bank of England.

This example is the third and final edition. It is a posthumous edition, published by Rocque’s formidable widow, Mary Anne Rocque. The dedication remains the same but the date has now been advanced to 1766.

Original colour. [SWAS1538]