La notable campaña del año 1639 del marchese di Leganés. Disegni a Madrid e a Stoccolma

The “notable campaña del año 1639” of the marquis of Leganés, governor of Milan to the conquest of Piedmont which will bring up the siege (failed) to Turin, is «told» in two atlases of city maps, now preserved at the Krigsarkivet (National Archives) of Stockholm and at the National Library of Madrid. The drawings show how the urban walls are highly modernized and enhanced (even in the forties of the seventeenth century in some cases they lie in a late medieval situation) within a few years, thanks to the work of the Spaniards, stubbornly convinced to occupy, starting from the western border of the state of Milan, the entire Piedmont until arriving in Turin. During this short fortunate season many reliefs and projects are produced, unpublished documents that return a page of the history of the city of Piedmont in the seventeenth century, still, in part, incomplete. In particular, this paper refers to two cities atlases: the first, preserved in Stockholm, bound in 1655, is commissioned by don Gaspar de Haro, marques of Heliche and Carpio, to Leonardo De Ferrari, a bolognese painter from alternate fortunes. The second, recently identified in Madrid, is dated 1641 and shows the victorious campaign of Diego Felipe de Guzmán marquis of Leganés, governor of the state of Milan to the conquest of Piedmont. They are different in purposes and graphics, but they are both closely related to two important nobles of the time, very close to the king, bright stars of the court of Madrid, passionate lovers of art and military experts.