Little map of Veneto and the “Adjacentibus” territories was drawn by Mattheus Seutter and etched with a refined and precise line by Tobias Conrad Lotter. Embellished in the upper left corner with a cartouche featuring the title and the coats of arms of Venice, Parma, Modena, Mantua, Massa, Guastalla, and Mirandola. The map is completed in the lower right corner by an inset containing three scales in Italian, German, and French miles, adorned with two allegorical figures symbolizing commerce (Mercury) and war. Taken from Atlas Minor præcipua orbis terrarum imperia…, a work described both as a pocket atlas and as a school atlas, published in Augsburg in 1744 containing miniature versions of a selection of folio maps by Seutter.
Matthäus Seutter (1678 – 1757) was one of the most important and prolific map publishers of the 18th century. Seutter was born the son of a goldsmith, but in his youth, he was an apprentice brewer. Apparently not inspired by the beer business, Seutter left the field and moved to Nuremberg, where he became an apprentice engraver under the guidance of the famous J.B. Homann. In the early 1700s, Seutter left Homann’s print shop to return to Augsburg, where he worked for the well-known art publisher Jeremias Wolff (1663 – 1724) before founding his own independent map publishing house around 1717. Although there was much competition, Seutter’s engraving skill and his large production of maps from all over the world ultimately attracted a substantial clientele. Most of Seutter’s maps are primarily based on previous works by Homann and De L’Isle; however, Seutter became one of the most prolific publishers of his time and was awarded the title of Imperial Geographer by the German Emperor Karl VI. Matthäus Seutter continued to publish until his death at the height of his career in 1757. Seutter had two sons, both engravers: Georg Matthäus Seutter (1710 – 173?) and Albrecht Carl Seutter (1722 – 1762). Georg Matthäus soon abandoned the business and moved to Woehrdt in 1729 (and probably died shortly after), leaving his share of the family publishing house to his brother Albrecht Carl Seutter, who did little to develop the business. After Albrecht’s death, the company was divided between the already established company of Johann Michael Probst (1727 – 1776) and the emerging company of Tobias Conrad Lotter. Lotter, the son-in-law of Matthäus Seutter, was a skilled master engraver and worked tirelessly for Seutter’s business. It was Lotter who eventually became one of the most important cartographers of his time, and his descendants are generally considered the true successors of Matthäus Seutter.
Tobias Conrad Lotter (1717 – 1777) was a German engraver and map publisher. Lotter was the son of a baker and became the son-in-law of the important map publisher Mattheus Seutter by marrying his eldest daughter Euphrosina. He began working in his father-in-law’s cartographic business around 1740. Between 1740 and 1744, he produced, under Seutter’s supervision, a delightful small pocket atlas, Atlas Minor, Praecipua orbis terrarum imperia, regna et provincias… Following Seutter’s death in 1757, the business passed to his son Albrecht Karl Seutter, who died just a few years later in 1762. The map plates of Seutter were subsequently divided between Lotter and the publisher Johan Mitchell Probst (1727 – 1776). With the support of his sons, Mattheus Albrecht (1741 – 1810), Georg Friedrich (1744 – 1801), and Gustav Conrad (1746 – 1776), Tobias Conrad Lotter succeeded in consolidating his father-in-law’s economic success and professional reputation, and over time, Lotter became one of the most important map publishers of the mid-18th century. After Lotter’s death in 1777, the business was taken over by his two eldest sons, who, lacking their father’s business acumen, led the company to a slow decline.
