The same text reaches more scientists who can respond more quickly. With the art of printing, knowledge that was previously only available in manuscripts is now printed in large numbers. The study of ancient text is the start of critical and independent research. Science became very popular in the 16th century. The book was illustrated with many maps, city views and plans: What struck them in particular? What was different then? And what is still the same now? We shall be sharing their experiences in this visitor’s guide.īrowse through his work now. To accompany the prints in the exhibition, this masterful wordsmith has written eleven compelling stories about the world in which Guicciardini lived.Ĭan we recognise any aspects of ourselves today in Guicciardini’s centuries-old descriptions? We asked this question to residents and new arrivals from all over. The writer Jeroen Olyslaegers explored 16th-century Antwerp in his successful novel Wildevrouw (2020). Well-known depictions of farm weddings, a dog on the hunt.Ĭan we as city and regional inhabitants still recognize any aspects of ourselves today in Guicciardini's centuries-old descriptions? It conjures up immediate images of landscapes, animals, people and clothing.

Guicciardini's Description is a stimulating and challanging work. A striking amount of attention was devoted to his place of domicile, Antwerp: the model city of the Low Countries.ĭo we still recognize ourselves in the description? Guicciardini not only described the economy, politics, language, flora, fauna and national character of the prosperous Netherlands, but also criticized the devastating influence of the Spanish War on the prosperous country. We read his experiences with Antwerp and the Netherlands from 500 years ago.

The book was published more than 60 times, by various printers. In this remarkable book he described all the cities of the Netherlands. di tutti i Paesi Bassi altrimenti detti Germania inferiore. In 1567 he published his bestseller: Descrittione. Lodovico's career took a turn when he started writing in 1552, an activity that he believed was more profitable than his work as a merchant. He remained in Antwerp until his death ().Ī description of the Netherlands from 500 years ago Like Christoffel Plantin, Guicciardini was a migrant who moved to the Netherlands for his job and settled in Antwerp. Guicciardini was an Italian merchant who worked in the Antwerp branch of the family business since 1541. Relive our region through the eyes of a young merchant from Florence. In the exhibition An Italian in the Low Countries we shall be travelling back in time to the prosperous Netherlands of the 16th century. For that reason the Museum Plantin-Moretus is not allowing this special anniversary to pass unnoticed. He wrote the first complete city atlas of the Low Countries. The Italian writer Lodovico Guicciardini (1521–1589) was born exactly 500 years ago.

Wildevrouw by Jeroen Olyslaegers