Historic Map : Mitchell Map of Southern Italy: The Kingdom of Naples and The Two Sicilies, 1849, Vintage Wall Art

This is a lovely 1849 map of the Kingdom of Naples of the Two Sicilies by S. A. Mitchell. Covers the southern parts of modern Italy from Rome to Sicily. An inset detailing the environs of Naples is included in the lower right quadrant. Political and topographical features are noted and color coded with elevation rendered by hachure.

As this map was being prepared, the peninsula was undergoing its Risorgimento, Italy's march toward national solidarity. Following the defeat of Napoleon and the merging of Sicily and Naples into the Two Sicilies, the Island of Sicily witnessed revolts against the Bourbon rule in 1820 and 1848. The final revolution in 1848 would result in the island gaining independence from Bourbon control for 16 months. The Kingdom of Naples was the richest and largest Italian state before the Italian unification.

The whole is engraved and colored in Mitchell's distinctive style with green border work and vivid pastels. Mitchell published this chart in his atlas from 1846 to the late 1850s before discontinuing the series and selling his map plates to DeSilver. This map was issued in the 1849 edition of the New Universal Atlas. It was the last edition of that atlas to be published by Mitchell prior to selling the plates and rights to the atlas to Thomas Cowperthwait in 1850.