Description

This finely-engraved map depicts the Battle at Grüningen (Hessen) in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) on August 25th 1762.

While the map is of a modest size, the quality of the engraving and detail of the presentation provides a surprisingly thorough overview.

This map was issued by Beaurain in 1765, both to serve as one of the border illustrations added to his great wall map recording the events of the Seven Years’ War, the Carte de Allemagne… (1765), and, as is the case here, as a separately-issued map, mounted on larger piece of paper and bound into a made-to-order atlas.

Jean de Beaurain (1696 – 1771) was an important French mapmaker who served for 50 years as royal cartographer to King Louis XV.  As evidenced by the present map, he played a key role in documenting the Seven Years’ War and his skills were highly regarded by French officials.  He was frequently consulted by diplomats to provide advice on international boundaries during treaty negotiations.  His son, Jean-Baptiste, followed him into the cartography profession.