Historic Map : De Wit Map of Southern Brabant (Vicinity of Brussels), Belgium, 1721, Vintage Wall Art

This is an attractive c.1721 map of the southern part of the Duchy of Brabant by Frederik De Wit. The map depicts part of modern day Belgium, which was at the time this map was made, part of the Duchy of Brabant. It covers the vicinity of Brussels and extends from Lier south to Namur and from Ninove east as far as Sint-Truiden. The entire region is depicted in extraordinary detailed, offering both topographical and political information, with forests and mountains beautifully rendered in profile.

The Duchy of Brabant, established in the late 12th century by the Holy Roman Empire was an important region of the Low Counties and was part of the Habsburg Netherlands, until the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War. Brabant would be divided with the its northern portion becoming part of the United Provinces and the southern portion remaining part of Spanish Netherlands, and later the Austrian Netherlands. It would eventually be dissolved in 1795, when Napoleonic forces invaded and set up a new French client state, the Batavian Republic.

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