Antique Map-NAVARRE-SPAIN-BAY OF BISKAY-PAMPLONA-CASTILLA-de Wit-1680

This print shows a view on a map covering the community of Navarre in Spain. The map is centred in Pamplona and extends north to the Bay of Biscay, part of Castilla y Le?n and south to Tarazona (Aragon). Exceptional topographical details such as the Puerto de San Adri?n tunnel, an important milestone on the Basque route of the Camino de Santiago. Facing West, it features frames with lettering of grades and 10′ subdivisions with 1 ? subdivisions. The cartouche in the upper left corner with the appearance of parchment appears supported by 3 angels, contains the title, author and place of publication. Below it is the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Navarre. In the lower central margin there is a cartouche with architectural motifs in which the scales in miles are indicated. The relief is represented by mountain profiles and shade, while the hydrography represents the main network, with names of the most important rivers such as the Ebro River. The geography of the Cantabrian coast is represented enhanced with horizontal stripes and 2 boats of the time. The planimetry with cities and towns is represented by grouping of buildings and small circles, masses of trees and division of kingdoms and merindades. .

Made by an anonymous engraver after Frederik de Wit.

Medium: Engraving on hand laid (verge) paper.

Sheet size: 64.3 x 53 cm (25.31 x 20.87 inch). Image size: 48.5 x 38 cm. (19.09 x 14.96 inch).

Condition: good, given age. Fold as published. Creases. Fold in lower margin. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

NAVARRE-SPAIN-BAY OF BISKAY-PAMPLONA-CASTILLA | T.39 LARGE

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This print was published in Amsterdam, 1680.

Biography artist: De Wit (1629 ca.-1706) was a mapmaker and mapseller who was born in Gouda but who worked and died in Amsterdam. He moved to the city in 1648, where he opened a printing operation in 1655. From the 1660s onward, he published atlases with a variety of maps; he is best known for these atlases and his Dutch town maps. He gained a privilege from the States General in 1688. After Frederik’s death in 1706, his wife Maria ran the shop for four years before selling it. Their son, Franciscus, was a stockfish merchant and had no interest in the map shop. At the auction to liquidate the de Wit stock, most of the plates went to Pieter Mortier, whose firm eventually became Covens & Mortier, one of the biggest cartography houses of the eighteenth century.