Map of Crete 1680

Frederick de Wit

€ 1.450

Inter-Antiquariaat Mefferdt & De Jonge

• About the artwork
  MAP OF CRETE "Insula Candia Ejusque Fortificatio. "Copper engraving by Frederick de Wit, published in Amsterdam c. 1680, with original hand colouring. Size: 46 x 54,5 cm. One of the most decorative maps of Crete, based on the map by Sébastian de Pontault Beaulieu, a French military engineer who had mapped the fortifications of many Mediterranean islands. His map of Crete was published in 1674, only five years after Crete had fallen to the Ottomans after a 21-year siege (the longest siege in history). The Siege of Candia [modern Heraklion], the capital of Crete, was the central event of the sixth Turkish-Venetian War, better known as Cretan War, or War of Candia. It was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies (the Knights of Malta, the Papal States, French volunteers, and pirates from Mani) against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States, fought over the Venetian possession of Crete. The war lasted from 1645 to 1669, and was fought in Dalmatia, Crete, and in numerous naval engagements in the Aegean Sea. On the map the seas around the island are filled with galleons and galleys representing this epic struggle. Above the map the title is on a banner held aloft by putti, and the corners have plans of the towns and fortifications of Chania and Heraklion. Under the map are plans of the fortifications of Spinalonga, Rethymno, Tylissos [Thine] and Suda. Price: Euro1.450,-    
• About the artist

  Frederik de Wit was born Frederik Hendriksz. He was born to a Protestant family in about 1629, in Gouda, a small city in the province of Holland, one of the seven united provinces of the Netherlands. His father Hendrik Fredericsz (1608 – 29 July 1668) was a hechtmaecker (knife handle maker) from Amsterdam, and his mother Neeltij Joosten (d. before 1658) was the daughter of a merchant in Gouda. Frederik was married on 29 August 1661, to Maria van der Way (1632–1711), the daughter of a wealthy Catholic merchant in Amsterdam. From about 1648 until his death at the end of July 1706, De Wit lived and worked in Amsterdam. Frederik and Maria had seven children, but only one Franciscus Xaverius (1666–1727) survived them.

  By 1648, during the height of the Dutch Golden Age, De Wit had moved from Gouda to Amsterdam. As early as 1654, he had opened a printing office and shop under the name "De Drie Crabben" (the Three Crabs) which was also the name of his house on the Kalverstraat. In 1655, De Wit changed the name of his shop to the "Witte Pascaert" (the White Chart). Under this name De Wit and his firm became internationally known.

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