A Journey into the Past: John Durant Breval and the Roman Antiquities of the Dutch Republic and the Austrian Netherlands (1726)

In 1726, John Durant Breval (ca. 1680-1738) published the first part of his Remarks of several parts of Europe relating cheefly to the history, antiquities and geography of those countries. This work, which is both a travel guide and a scholarly work, stands out from the rest of the travel literature of its time because of the importance the author gave to the ancient history of the regions he traveled through, describing the origins of the localities and the antiquities that were observable there. The analysis of the chapters devoted to the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands is particularly interesting, as these regions were not known for their 'antiquities': most of the descriptions and reflections proposed by the author are original and reflect the interests of the scholarly community in the first half of the 18th century. After presenting the work and its author, this article sheds light on Breval's main concerns: the denunciation of local traditions, the establishment of correspondences between ancient and modern geography, and the description of the most notable antiquities of this region.