Schagen, Gerrit Lucasz

An engraver and cartographer known for his art prints, after those of French printmaker/etcher Jacques Callot, from “The Large Miseries of War”, and for reproductions of maps, particularly of those by de Wit and Nicolaes Visscher I. His copy of the First State (1680–1688) of de Wit’s cartouche on his map of “REGNI POLONIÆ  et Dvcatus LITHVANIÆ…” differs only in his replacement of de Wit’s name with his own. Given that both de Wit and van Schagen lived and worked in Amsterdam, and that de Wit’s “privilege” was granted 1688–1689, van Schagen appears to have made just enough changes in the map to steer clear of a lawsuit. Note van Schagen’s superior outline of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, among others, and the slightly different plate dimension (as noticed by www.antique-maps.lt). I suspect van Schagen first published his version after the granting of de Wit’s privilege, or c. 1690.