Historic Map : De Wit Map of Flanders (Holland and Belgium), 1721, Vintage Wall Art

This is an attractive c.1721 map of Flanders by Frederik De Wit. The map depicts western portions of modern day Belgium and northern France along with parts of Holland, a region commonly known as Flanders at the time. extends from Zeeland south to Arras in France and from Gravelines on the French coast east as far as Brussels. The map renders the entire region in extraordinary detail offering both topographical and political information noting French, Spanish and Dutch dominions. Coastal features are also beautifully noted.

The Low Countries were on the low-lying delta formed by the convergence of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers. This portion of the Netherlands was known successively as the Habsburg Netherlands, the Spanish Netherlands, and the Austrian Netherlands, until, in 1795, Napoleonic forces invaded and set up a new French client state, the Batavian Republic. The Low Countries, until 1581 part of the Seventeen United Provinces, were reunited by the 1815 Congress of Vienna as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Along with the United Provinces, this area, which hosted the world's first stock exchanges, is considered the birthplace of the modern capitalist economy.

A beautifully engraved title cartouche adorns the lower left quadrant of the map. The map was issued by Covens and Mortier and printed shortly following their 1721 acquisition of De Wit's plates from Maria De Wit.