Château De Targé Near Chatellerault, Engraving By Chastillon, 17th Century

Claude Chastillon was an architect, engineer, and topographer in the service of King Henry IV of France. Born in 1559 or 1560 in Châlons-en-Champagne, he died on April 27, 1616, in the same city. He and his wife were buried there in the church of Notre-Dame-en-Vaux. He became the king's topographer in 1592. Three years later, he received the title of royal engineer. His considerable body of work consists of engravings, 534 of which were collected in a posthumous edition published in 1641 entitled Topographie française (French Topography). These engravings depict "cities, towns, castles, country houses, coach houses, and vestiges of antiquity in the kingdom of France," along with scenes of battles fought by Henry IV and depictions of some foreign cities. A second edition of this work was printed in 1648, then a third in 1655. Our engraving has large margins, it is printed on laid paper with a fragment of watermark (top of a fleur-de-lis crown).