The french Archives Nationales organize, at their headquarters in Paris, the exhibition Quand les artistes dessinaient les cartes: vues et figures de possible espace français, Moyen Âge et Renaissance.

The exhibition focuses on a collection of local and regional maps produced in France between 1300 and 1600 with a marked practical nature: defining boundaries or legal rights, resolving territorial disputes, documenting public works, supporting military operations, describing historical events, cataloguing possessions and highlight the identity of a place or territory.

It is a cartography that prefers empirical observation to precision measurements. Many of these “figures” (as they were called at that time) were made by painters combining drawing and perspective effects. The result is spectacular images that can well be considered an intersection between art and cartography.

The exhibition will be open until January 26, 2020.

You can find more information on the website of the exhibition or in the press kit.