By manipulating and layering hachure lines and cross-hatching, this French nautical chart of Martinique raised the mountains above us as if we were entering the harbor ourselves. Thousands of individual hachure lines of different lengths and weight combine with the illusion of shadows falling to the east to make the steepest peaks feel like they jut off the page. Fittingly, however, the naval mapmakers reserved the most precise representation of elevation for the sea. The numbers scattered throughout the bay, although unillustrated by any hachure or shadow lines, marked the waters’ depths for mariners most concerned with staying afloat.
Shadows and Hachure Lines
| Artist | Paul Monnier and Gabriel Cyprien Le Bourguignon-Duperré |
|---|---|
| Title | Plan du Cul-de-Sac Marin (Ile de la Martinique) |
| Year | 1828 |
| Medium | Engraving on paper |
| Location | Newberry Library |