Levasseur Antique Map of the Rhone Region of France
Victor Levasseur’s decorative map of the Département du Rhône, engraved in the mid-19th century for the Atlas National Illustré. The central map shows the department with its road network emphasized in red and administrative boundaries hand-colored in yellow, surrounded by elaborate allegorical vignettes illustrating agriculture, trade, industry, and learning. Lyon is shown as the dominant urban center at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône, with the river corridors clearly structuring settlement and commerce. The surrounding illustrations include tools, books, produce, textiles, and classical architectural elements, reinforcing the themes of production, education, and economic vitality.
Major cities and towns shown (as labeled on this map)
Lyon, Villefranche-sur-Saône, Belleville, Neuville-sur-Saône, Tarare, L’Arbresle, Givors, Condrieu, Vienne, Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise, Thizy, Amplepuis, Beaujeu, Anse, Trévoux, Écully, Oullins, Brignais, Rive-de-Gier, Saint-Genis-Laval
Date of Publication: 1847
Victor Jules Levasseur was a leading French cartographer of the mid-19th century, celebrated for maps that combine precise geographic information with rich allegorical and regional imagery. His work belongs to a period when cartography was closely linked to education, national identity, and visual storytelling.
Levasseur is best known for the Atlas National Illustré des 86 Départements et des Possessions de la France, first published in 1847. This ambitious atlas presented each département with detailed mapping surrounded by decorative vignettes illustrating local agriculture, industries, landscapes, and customs. These elements were designed to make geography both informative and visually engaging, reflecting contemporary interest in regional character and economic life.
The ornamental scenes surrounding many of the maps were drawn by Raymond Bonheur, a respected painter and the father of the celebrated artist Rosa Bonheur. Bonheur’s illustrations contribute significantly to the atlas’s distinctive appearance, grounding the maps in vivid representations of rural labor and everyday life. Individual plate credits are noted where visible.
Highly sought after by collectors, Levasseur’s departmental maps are admired for their exceptional decorative borders, detailed regional content, and their ability to combine cartography with scenes of everyday life and production in 19th-century France.
Most maps from this series measure approximately 33 × 49.5 cm. Please see individual listings for specific dimensions, condition details, and information on margins or trimming.
Texts in the Cartouches:
Products et Commerce – Transcription (French)
PRODUITS ET COMMERCE
Le blé en petite quantité dans ce département est insuffisant, on y récolte le maïs, le seigle, la pomme de terre; l’avoine, l’orge et le sarrasin sont en assez grande quantité. Les fruits et légumes y sont abondants; les vins, surtout ceux du Beaujolais, sont renommés.
L’industrie manufacturière y est très considérable; les fabriques de soieries de Lyon sont connues dans toute l’Europe; on y fabrique aussi des étoffes de laine et de coton.
Le commerce intérieur et extérieur est très actif; il se fait principalement par le Rhône et la Saône.
On exporte des soies, des vins, des eaux-de-vie, des farines et divers produits manufacturés; on importe des matières premières nécessaires aux fabriques.
Products et Commerce – Translation (English)
PRODUCTS AND COMMERCE
Wheat is produced in small quantities in this department and is insufficient; maize, rye, and potatoes are grown, while oats, barley, and buckwheat are produced in fairly large quantities. Fruits and vegetables are abundant, and the wines, especially those of Beaujolais, are well known.
Manufacturing industry is very significant here; the silk manufactures of Lyon are known throughout Europe, and wool and cotton textiles are also produced.
Internal and external trade is very active and is carried on mainly by way of the Rhône and the Saône.
Silks, wines, spirits, flour, and various manufactured goods are exported, while raw materials required for the factories are imported.
STATISTIQUE, TERRITOIRE, CURIOSITÉS, CÉLÉBRITÉS.
La division du sol du dépᵗ. du Rhône présente les chiffres suivants : sol de riche terreau 43,400 hectares. Sol de craie ou calcaire 27 hect. sol de gravier 40,000 hect. sol de pierreux 47 hect. sol sablonneux 30 hect. sol de gypse, marnes 14,572 h.
Le territoire est entrecoupé de montagnes resserrées qui laissent peu d’étendue aux vallons assez pauvres en pâturages.
Les productions minéralogiques offrent des mines de cuivre, de plomb argentifère de Poule et de Chenelette, mines d’argent d’Argental et de l’Argentière exploitées autrefois; de houille, de cristal de roche, paillettes d’or roulées dans les sables du Rhône. — Carrières de pierres de taille, de pierre à chaux, granit, marbre, porphyre, grès, plâtre, gypse, terre à foulon, tripoli &ᵃ. — Eaux minérales contenant du foie de soufre à Charbonnière près Lyon.
À Lyon on remarque le chef-d’œuvre de Mansard le superbe hôtel-de-ville dont la tour de 150 pᵈᵉ haut est couronnée par une coupole; la cathédrale St. Jean flanquée de quatre tours carrées dont l’une desquelles est une cloche pesant 35,000 ℔; l’église St. Irénée où fut bâti l’ancien Lyon incendié sous le règne de Néron; le temple des protestants, joli édifice, autrefois la loge du change; l’École vétérinaire, la 1ʳᵉ de ce genre qui ait été établie en France: elle date de 1761; l’hôpital général fondé par Childebert et son épouse Ultrogothe; l’hôtel des monnaies qui marque avec la lettre D; enfin la place de Bellecour (l’une des plus belles de l’Europe), la place des Célestins, celle des Terreaux où furent exécutés de Thou et Cinq-Mars, et 17 ponts sur la Saône et le Rhône, au confluent desquels Lyon est bâti. Le chemin de fer de St. Étienne part de Lyon et passe à Givors pour suivre le canal de ce nom et le cours du Gier.
Parmi les personnages célèbres nés à Lyon on remarque: les Empereurs Claude, Caracalla, Marc-Aurèle, Caligula, Germanicus; le poète Sidoine-Apollinaire; St. Irénée; le pape Clément IV; Philibert de Lorme; Perrache et Rondelet architectes; les deux frères Coustou et Coysevox sculpteurs; Rozier, Bernard et de Jussieu naturalistes; Audran, Drevet, Grypthe graveurs; Stella, Vivien, Reveil peintres; Bourgelat fondateur des écoles vétérinaires de Lyon et d’Alfort; la belle Louise Labbé poète; Philippom de la Madeleine; Roquefort, de Gérande; l’économiste J.B. Say; les mécaniciens Jambon, Thomé et Jacquard qui a donné son nom aux nouveaux métiers pour fabriquer la soie; le maréchal Suchet; les généraux Duphot, Lapoyasse, Servon; le major Martin fondateur de l’école de la Martinière; l’orateur Bergasse; les députés Camille Jordan et de Corcelle; sʳᵗ. Villefranche a vu naître un des plus habiles chimistes de son temps le médecin Claude Bourdelin; Claude Guillard docteur en Sorbonne et le ministre Roland. Andrieux homme de lettres est né à Tarare.
English Translation
STATISTICS, TERRITORY, CURIOSITIES, CELEBRITIES.
The division of the land of the Department of the Rhône presents the following figures: rich loamy soil, 43,400 hectares; chalk or limestone soil, 27 hectares; gravel soil, 40,000 hectares; stony soil, 47 hectares; sandy soil, 30 hectares; gypsum and marl soil, 14,572 hectares.
The territory is intersected by closely set mountains which leave little space for valleys that are rather poor in pasture.
Mineralogical production includes mines of copper, silver-bearing lead at Poule and Chenelette, silver mines at Argental and at L’Argentière formerly worked; coal, rock crystal, flakes of gold rolled in the sands of the Rhône. — Quarries of building stone, lime stone, granite, marble, porphyry, sandstone, plaster, gypsum, fullers’ earth, tripoli, etc. — Mineral waters containing sulphur compounds at Charbonnière near Lyon.
In Lyon one notes the masterpiece of Mansart, the superb town hall whose tower, 150 feet high, is crowned by a dome; the cathedral of Saint Jean flanked by four square towers, in one of which is a bell weighing 35,000 pounds; the church of Saint Irénée on the site of ancient Lyon burned under the reign of Nero; the Protestant temple, a handsome building, formerly the exchange loggia; the Veterinary School, the first of its kind established in France, dating from 1761; the General Hospital founded by Childebert and his wife Ultrogothe; the Mint, marked with the letter D; finally the Place Bellecour (one of the most beautiful in Europe), the Place des Célestins, that of the Terreaux where de Thou and Cinq-Mars were executed, and seventeen bridges over the Saône and the Rhône, at whose confluence Lyon is built. The railway from Saint-Étienne departs from Lyon and passes through Givors to follow the canal of that name and the course of the Gier.
Among the famous persons born in Lyon are noted: the Emperors Claudius, Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius, Caligula, Germanicus; the poet Sidonius Apollinaris; Saint Irénée; Pope Clement IV; Philibert de l’Orme; Perrache and Rondelet, architects; the two brothers Coustou and Coysevox, sculptors; Rozier, Bernard, and de Jussieu, naturalists; Audran, Drevet, and Grypthe, engravers; Stella, Vivien, and Reveil, painters; Bourgelat, founder of the veterinary schools of Lyon and Alfort; the beautiful Louise Labé, poet; Philippom de la Madeleine; Roquefort, of Guérande; the economist J.-B. Say; the mechanics Jambon, Thomé, and Jacquard, who gave his name to the new looms for the manufacture of silk; Marshal Suchet; the generals Duphot, Lapoyasse, and Servon; Major Martin, founder of the Martinière school; the orator Bergasse; the deputies Camille Jordan and de Corcelle; likewise Villefranche saw the birth of one of the most skillful chemists of his time, the physician Claude Bourdelin; Claude Guillard, doctor of the Sorbonne; and the minister Roland. Andrieux, a man of letters, was born at Tarare.