Map Exhibit: Gentleman Soldier, Scholar & Spy: The Napoleonic Era Maps of the Honourable Robert Clifford

Abstract

This presentation seeks to capture the content that went into the 2018 exhibit, "Gentleman, Soldier, Scholar & Spy" in the Tomlinson Gallery, McMaster Museum of Art. Clifford’s maps reveal a world on the cusp of an evolutionary shift in cartography brought about by the Napoleonic wars. Hand-coloured, manuscript maps depicting the precise and exacting geometry of Vauban-designed fortified cities give way to maps printed from engraved plates, incorporating new techniques and symbology to satisfy the shifting focus onto the surrounding landscape of unordered nature. Maps used primarily for the siege of cities in previous generations are replaced by maps of vast expanses of territory for a new style of open warfare.