sparrow sculpsit (1 Ergebnisse)

Zustand: Good. Oblong elephant foilio. Much rarer than the smaller format edition. 69 x 50cm. 27 x 19.5 inches.Original printed boards, rubbed and soiled; repaired with new goatskin spine. (The more common smaller format is 43x38cm. 17 by 15 inches). .12 engraved plates, scattered spotting and marginal browning throughout, damp stain to lower margin of one plate, one leaf loose, repaired tear to final leaf.OCLC Number / Unique Identifier:461746497.Description by Juliette Jestaz.Conservatrice des manuscrits, livres rares et plans à la Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris. Référente d'histoire de Paris pour la bibliothèque:."These very discreet graphic illustrations of the most prominent features of the French capital, with characteristic figures in the foregrounds, bear no artist's name on the title page. The plates themselves are signed "S. Porter sculpsit," "Sparrow sculpsit," "Dadley sculpsit," or "Angus sculpsit." The latter is probably William Angus (1752-1821), a British draftsman and engraver. We have not been able to identify the other engravers.At least one of the plates is based on a drawing by Pierre-Antoine Demachy (1723-1807), author of numerous views of Paris, particularly panoramas of the quays. It is tempting to attribute to him all the aquatint drawings in the collection?a technique decidedly in vogue for veduta at the turn of the century. The drawings of him that are kept at the Musée Carnavalet or in the Destailleur collection of the BnF do not, however, correspond to those in our album, and cannot confirm this attribution.The first edition was published in 1815 by Howlett and Brimmer in London. This edition, published by Harper the following year, suggests that the album was successful, coming just a few months after Waterloo had reopened France to the British after twelve years of closure. These two publishers had previously produced picture albums of the Allied countries: *The Costume of the Russian Empire*, 73 engravings, 1803, with descriptions in French (the international language at the time) and English, and *Sketches of Military Costume in Spain and Portugal*, 1810.Like Nattes's album, this one does not focus on the Empire's achievements in Paris: neither the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, nor the Place du Châtelet, the Palais de la Chancellerie (Hôtel de Salm), nor the Louvre's expansions. The buildings depicted on the plates could, as in Nattes's work, be presented in their state from 1802-1803.The album nevertheless focuses primarily on the heart of Napoleonic power, the Louvre-Tuileries-Champs-Élysées district, to which eight of the twelve plates are devoted. It also provides two panoramas from the North and the South. The panorama from Montmartre is a classic viewpoint, dating back to that captured by Mathieu Merian in 1620.".