Johan de Witt, after Jan de Baen, c. 1670. Johan de Witt (1625-1672) was appointed grand pensionary (previously advocate) of the province of Holland in 1653. As such, in the 1650s and 1660s, a period in which there was no stadholder, he used his skills and his contacts to exercise virtual control of government. One of De Witt's greatest achievements was to turn France and England against each other. His nemesis came, however, when both powers turned on the Republic simultaneously in 1672.