Fifth and last state of the beautiful map of the Veneto State conceived in 1680 by Frederick De Witt and here in the edition printed in 1725 by the publishers Covens and Mortier with the addition on the left of the second sheet describing Lombardy, the Duchy of Milan, and Piedmont. The title is now located at the top center within a rich cartouche with four putti and seven heraldic coats of arms, one of which, that of Guastalla, is left blank. Curiously, this is the first time Guastalla is indicated as an autonomous state, but its borders are not shown on the map. The map shows in high detail all of northern Italy and now, unlike the prototype of 1680, shows the routes of the imperial army, becoming a map intended to also describe the military events that occurred in the territory during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Frederick De Witt (ca. 1629-1706) was a cartographer and map seller born in Gouda but who worked and died in Amsterdam. He moved to the city in 1648, where he opened a printing business called The Three Crabs; later he changed the name of his shop to The White Chart. Starting in the 1660s, he published atlases with a variety of maps; he is primarily known for these atlases and for his maps of Dutch cities. After Frederick’s death in 1706, his wife Maria managed the shop for four years before selling it. His son, Franciscus, was a stockfish merchant and had no interest in the map shop. At the auction to liquidate de Wit’s stock, most of the plates went to Pieter Mortier, whose firm became Covens & Mortier, one of the largest cartographic houses of the 18th century. Covens & Mortier. Publishing house of geographical maps in Amsterdam. 1721-1866. For nearly two centuries, the largest and most important Dutch commercial cartographic publishing house was Covens & Mortier in Amsterdam. From a quantitative perspective, it was perhaps also the largest contemporary map publishing house in the world.
