A detailed seventeenth-century copperplate engraving serves as a frontispiece. The scene illustrates the classical myth of the Abduction of Europa. Europa sits upon the back of a bull, representing Jupiter in disguise, and gestures with her right arm while her cloak billows behind her. She is surrounded by four female companions dressed in classical style: one leads the bull by its horns, while the others gather flowers into baskets or weave them into a large garland. The setting is a pastoral landscape with large leafy trees to the right and a distant horizon to the left. Small birds fly in the sky. The title of the work is inscribed upon a large stone plinth that dominates the lower foreground.

Depiction of the Principal

CITIES of EUROPE

Published by Nicolaes Visscher.

N. Berchem Nicolaes Berchem inventor

A. Blootelingh Abraham Blooteling engraver