COLLECTION NAME:
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Record
Author:
Wit, Frederick de (1629-1706)
Date:
1690
Short Title:
Norvegiae Maritimae ab Elf-burgo ad Dronten | Pascaert van Noorwegen streckende van Elf-burg tot Dronten Gedruckt by F. de Wit.
Publisher:
Frederic M. DeWit
Publisher Location:
Amsterdam
Type:
Chart Map
Obj Height cm:
49
Obj Width cm:
57
Reference:
Carhart C12.2 ca. 1689-90
Country:
Norway
Full Title:
Norvegiae Maritimae ab Elf-burgo ad Dronten | Pascaert van Noorwegen streckende van Elf-burg tot Dronten Gedruckt by F. de Wit.
List No:
15889.015
Page No:
6
Series No:
15
Publication Author:
Wit, Frederick de (1629-1706)
Pub Date:
1690
Pub Title:
(Orbis maritimus ofte Zee Atlas)
Pub Reference:
George Carhart, Frederick de Wit and the First Concise Reference Atlas, page 169, etc.
Pub Note:
"A Handsome, Beautifully Colored Example, Employing A Rarely Seen Grisaille Color Scheme This sea atlas, produced by Frederick de Wit around 1690 in Amsterdam, is a beautiful example of late 17th-century Dutch cartography, comprising 27 double-page engraved maps with unusual and attractive original hand-color. Featuring a double-hemisphere world map (Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula, ex officina F. de Wit., Shirley 444) and a large folding map of Europe (Totius Europae Littora Novissme edita...), the atlas provides a detailed representation of the world's seas and continents as understood during a pivotal period of exploration and colonization. Frederick de Wit is recognized as one of the foremost map publishers of the second half of the 17th century, with his works prized for their clarity, detail, and aesthetic appeal. This is a rare, separate issue of De Wit's sea atlas, typically encountered as part of his larger atlas compilations. The atlas includes an allegorical engraved frontispiece from Johannes van Keulen's "Zee-Fakkel" and is complemented by six leaves of text, possibly added at an early date for a private collector. For this example of the atlas, the colorist employed an unusual artistic coloring style called "grisaille." While geographical features of the map are colored in a traditional scheme of the period, the cartouches are done in the grisaille style, employing blue-greys, and gold hues. Traditionally, the use of grisaille showcased the artists' mastery in tone and texture from the medieval era to the Renaissance. Among the earliest examples of this technique is the work of Giotto di Bondone, who employed grisaille in the lower registers of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, around 1304. This technique marked a departure from the flat styles of medieval art and foreshadowed the Italian Renaissance. In the 15th century, Early Dutch painters like Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck used grisaille on the exteriors of triptych wings, as seen in the Ghent Altarpiece, as a means of imitating the appearance of sculpture. Manuscript illuminators such as Jean Pucelle and Matthew Paris also utilized grisaille. Their work in pen and wash manuscripts with limited colors underscored texts and added dramatic depth. The Renaissance period saw Andrea Mantegna and Polidoro da Caravaggio adopting grisaille to mimic classical sculptures and Roman paintings, aligning with the era's classical revival. The style was employed in the 16th and 17th Century by Dutch artists such as Martin Heemskerck, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Hendrik Goltzius, Adriaen van de Venne, and the circle of Rembrandt and Jan van Goyen. Portions of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling frescoes and Antonio Verrio's work on the great staircase at Hampton Court are notable examples of the use of grisaille in the Baroque period. As a means of highlighting the cartographic features of the map, the overall effect is quite appealing, and a further examination of this rare (if not unique) approach belongs in the annals of Golden Age Dutch map coloring. This convention is sometimes associated with the finer coloring of Andreas Cellarius's Harmonia Macrocosmica, and a less refined version of it is often seen in the Valk & Schenk edition of the same book. Folio. 17th- or 18th-century full-mottled calf, spine divided into compartments by gilt rules. Engraved allegorical title and text from a Van Keulen firm chart book. 27 engraved maps (26 by De Wit and 1 by Nicolas Visscher II) all of which in beautiful original hand-color, cartouches colored in several shades of grisaille, with cities heightened with gold. 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 under the name of The Three Crabs; later, he changed the name of his shop to The White Chart. From the 1660s onward, he published atlases with a variety of maps; he is best known for these atlases and his Dutch town maps. 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.
Pub List No:
15889.000
Pub Type:
Chart Atlas
Pub Maps:
27
Pub Height cm:
55
Pub Width cm:
35
Image No:
15889015.jp2
Authors:
Wit, Frederick de (1629-1706)
