Vingboons, Trasmonte and Boot: European Cartography of Mexican Cities in the Early Seventeenth Century

Johannes Vingboons's much‐copied watercolours (c.1650s) of Mexico City, Acapulco and Veracruz, based on drawings by Juan Gomez de Trasmonte and Adrian (Adriaan) Boot made in New Spain before 1628, are considered accurate depictions of these cities in the early seventeenth century. No one has found the originals, however, nor has the route by which they reached the Netherlands at a time when the Spanish and the Dutch were at war been satisfactorily explained. We re‐examine these early European representations of New World cities and consider their sources, purpose and historical context. Our arguments are based on a fresh analysis of the topographical content of the watercolours themselves and of the secondary sources, and we take into consideration new historical evidence about Trasmonte, Boot and Vingboons as well as the cities depicted. We also describe a hitherto unknown set of the Vingboons manuscripts depicting the three Mexican cities.