RHODES--[?VAVASSORE]. LA CITTA DI RODI, [?1522], WOODCUT BIRD'S-EYE PICTORIAL PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF RHODES

295 x 420mm., woodcut bird's-eye pictorial plan of the siege of Rhodes

A good copy
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This striking woodcut depicts the siege from a bird's-eye view looking west. Numerous vessels crowd the seas, and to the upper left is Sulieman’s camp with his army below; Sulieman himself is depicted upon horseback; the city surrounded by cannon and siege engines. Although the plan does not bear an imprint, the style is almost identical to Giovanni Andrea Vavassore’s plan, printed from four woodblocks, of the 1522 siege of Rhodes. The siege of 1522 was the second and ultimately successful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to expel the Knights of Rhodes from their island stronghold and thereby secure Ottoman control of the Eastern Mediterranean.

RARE. We are unable to trace any institutional examples.