Leipzig, eine florisante, auch befestigte Handels-Stadt und weitberühmte Universitaet in dem Ober-Saexischen Graiß.

Title

Leipzig, eine florisante, auch befestigte Handels-Stadt und weitberühmte Universitaet in dem Ober-Saexischen Graiß.

Description

Magnificent city map of Leipzig with two depictions of coats of arms. Below a general view of Leipzig, to the left and right an allegorical depiction.

ca. 1730

Artist

Seutter (1678-1757)

Matthias Seutter (1678- 1757) Augsburg was the son of a goldsmith in Augsburg. In 1697, Seutter began his studies in Nuremberg and subsequently worked in the publishing house of Jeremias Wolff in Augsburg. In 1710, he established his own publishing house and print shop. The Seutter publishing house produced a great number of maps, atlases, and globes. However, very few original maps were printed there, as Augsburg at that time had no university and no connection to the fields of mathematics or the natural sciences. Seutter therefore copied the work of other cartographers, making his own engravings based on their models. Over 500 maps were produced in his studio. Seutter's most well-known works are the 1725 "Geographical Atlas or an Accurate Depiction of the Whole World" ("Atlas Geographicus oder Accurate Vorstellung der ganzen Welt") with 46 maps, the 1734 "Large Atlas" ("Grosser Atlas") with 131 maps, and the 1744 pocket atlas "Small Atlas" ("Atlas minor") with 64 maps. Matthäus Seutter died in 1757. Seutter's son Albrecht Karl, his son-in-law Conrad Tobias Lotter, and his business partner Johann Michael Probst ran the printing business for five more years.

Historical Description

The history of Leipzig was shaped by its importance as a trading center. Thanks to its favorable location at the intersection of trade routes and trade fair privileges, it already held an outstanding position in the trade in goods, and later also in the printing and book trade. Leipzig was never a royal seat or a bishopric and was always characterized by urban bourgeoisie. The University of Leipzig, founded in 1409, is one of the oldest universities in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany. Leipzig acquired the nickname "Little Paris" when the progressive trade fair city was equipped with street lighting in 1701 and from then on could be compared with the glamorous Seine metropolis. At the beginning of the 18th century, Georg Philipp Telemann studied in Leipzig and founded the Collegium musicum here. From 1723 until his death in 1750, Johann Sebastian Bach was employed by the city council as Thomaskantor and “Director musices” (head of all church music in the city). This is where u. a. the St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the B minor Mass and the art of the fugue. In 1729 Bach took over the management of the Collegium Musicum, which until 1741 performed numerous of his secular cantatas and instrumental compositions in Zimmermann's coffee house.