Newly acquired antique prints and maps or items of particular interest
Page 2
Beginning just before the middle of the nineteenth century, in England and then America, illustrated weekly newspapers made their appearance. These folio sized papers covered current events of local, national and international import, printed fiction and poetry by prominent authors, recounted gossip of note, described popular tourist sites, and generally were filled with stories on any subject that might be of interest to the reading public of the second half of the nineteenth century. The true source of the popularity of these newspapers, however, were the manifold wood engraved prints which graced almost every page of the issues. These pictures provide us today with one of the best sources for lively and informative images of the period. With photographs in a primitive stage it is through these illustrations that the public got its visual information about the events, personalities and places of the time. These illustrations are also one of the few sources we have today for these same things. While originally issued in large numbers, few have survived the ages in good condition. The Illustrated London News was the first illustrated newspaper, beginning in 1842, and it continued to be the most influential throughout its life. It included genre subjects, portraits, views and many other fascinating images of nineteenth century America and Europe. These are interesting, historical and very collectable prints.
This handsome, oversized bird's eye view of New York in 1876 is a fine example of the detailed images made for The London Illustrated News. Buildings, churches, piers, warehouses and parks are all well represented, as well as paddlewheel steamboats, sailboats, tugboats and clipper ships in both the Hudson and East Rivers. $1,800
Bida. "Les Juifs devant le Mur de Salomon. D'apres le dessin original appartenant a Mr. Osiris." Paris, London and LaHaye: Boussod, Valadon & Cie Successeurs de Goupil, [also] New York: M. Knoedler. Circa. 1884+. 15 x 21 (image) plus full margins. Photogravure. Excellent condition.
Alexandre Bida (1823-1895) was a French artist of the school of Eugene Delacroix. He first exhibited at the Salon of 1847 and produced many pictures of the contemporary Middle East as well as Biblical and literary themes. His works were also conveyed to the public as engravings and lithographs.
The Goupil Company sold original art and produced reproductive prints under various names depending on partnerships from the 1840s to the 1880s. According to DeCourcy E. McIntosh in "New York's Favorite Pictures in the 1870s" Antiques Magazine (April, 2004) the first photogravure was published in 1873. The Knoedler firm was agent and partner for Goupil in New York for many decades and remained in one capacity or another after Boussod, Valadon et Cie took over the prime function in Paris. This depiction of Jews at the Temple Wall was one of many historical and modern prints that sold to a vast public in the late nineteenth century. It is based on an earlier and larger 1862 engraving by Victor Pottet for Goupil. $600
Sang-so. "Gathering of Tea." From Botanical Extracts: or Philosophy of Botany. London: Robert John Thornton, 1810. Double folio. Aquatint. Full hand color. With centerfold as issued. Margins trimmed to plate mark. Professionally conserved and backed. Very good condition. Edition 199.
A print depicting the cultivating and harvesting of tea. Thorton is best known for his famous botanical book Temple of Flora. Designed as a grand tribute to the Swedish botanist, Linnaeus, this work of large sized floral prints is considered by many to be the most magnificent such work ever produced. Thornton commissioned some of the same artist's he used for Temple of Flora for this publication which contained a fascinating selection of uncolored botanical images and articles. The production of all of these works nearly drove him to bankruptcy, even though they were funded with his rather sizable inheritance. Thornton attempted to auction the works of his botanical career, including The Botanical Extracts, serving as prizes. The lottery was not successful, and Thornton was nearly penniless when he died in 1837.
The British did not establish large tea plantations in China due to a treaty signed early in the nineteenth century. Tea growing was mostly a village production with the British controlling the exporting of it. Tea picking commenced in the Spring and Summer months and the villagers would sell the tea to middle men who would process it into a drinkable commodity. This wonderful scene, drawn by a Chinese artist, shows the numerous rows of tea trees being harvested. All available land is used, as tea trees can be seen growing on mountain plateaus. Steps are shown cut into the mountains to gain access and even long ladders were used as well. Overall, a fascinating insight into the production of tea in early nineteenth century China. $1,200
Thomas Cole (1801-1848) is known as the founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painting and produced primarily realistic and imaginary landscapes. Samuel Ward commissioned Cole to paint a set of four allegorical paintings in 1839. These four prints, engraved after Coles' paintings, depict the stages of life from birth to death. Cole's inspiration may have come from a sermon by Reverend Reginald Heaver referring to "life [which] bears on us like the stream of a mighty river."
The series begins with Childhood, in which a small child and its "Spirit Guide" (guardian angel) emerge from a dark cavern in a boat whose figurehead holds an hour glass. The boat's sides depict more figures of the hours. The cavern represents man's earthly origin and mysterious past; the soft light of morning and the abundant flowers and plants growing alongside the "Stream of Life" are symbols of early life. The narrowness of the river banks and the limited scope of scene represent the limited experience of childhood. The Egyptian lotus, in the foreground, provides another symbol of human existence.
In Youth, the landscape widens and the foliage becomes diversified, with trees overshadowing the bank. Alone in the boat, the "Voyager" takes the helm himself. The "Spirit Guide" now stands on the bank. The Voyager points to the sky where the vision of an exotic dome appears to him, symbolizing the dreams and aspirations of youth.
As the Voyager enters Manhood the landscape shifts to a dramatically dark and stormy setting. The dreams of youth are replaced by the struggles of middle age. The current of the stream has become swift and the Voyager seems to have lost control of his boat. Ahead of him is a waterfall with sinister trees in the foreground. "Life's Passenger" looks toward heaven for guidance, but in the clouds lurk the demons of Suicide, Intemperance and Murder, which Cole thought were ever present in the life of man.
In the final scene, Old Age, the Voyager has navigated the Stream of Life, which has emptied into a tranquil but dark and lonely sea, lined with jagged rocks and cliffs. The boat, damaged from life's storms, reveals that time is nearly at an end for the Voyager. Only now is the Spirit Guide revealed to him, guiding him toward his final destination. Old and gray, the passenger assumes a pious pose and readies himself for his inevitable fate. A shaft of light parts the clouds, and angels descend to usher the Voyager to another life.
Rarely found together, these prints were beautifully engraved by James Smillie, who was born in New York on January 16, 1833, and trained by his father, James Smillie, as an engraver on steel. While his principal work was bank-note engraving, Smillie produced many engravings after the work of other artists. He was an excellent etcher and a founder, and later president, of the New York Etching Club. In 1849, Smillie engraved Youth for the American Art Union (1839-1851), an organization created to support and develop popular appreciation of American art by issuing prints engraved after paintings which the organization owned. The favorable reception of this print led Smillie to engrave the three other voyages and issue the four print set in 1855. The resulting prints are considerably rarer than the initial AAU print and are much sought-after. The set of four: KL ON APPROVAL
Charles Fenderich. "Chev. Orozio de Attellis." [Orazio de Attellis Santangelo] Washington : C. Fenderich, 1843. 12 x 11. Lithograph by P.S. Duval, Philadelphia. Printed on India paper and mounted on original sheet with title and text. Left margin with short repaired tear and tiny hole. Otherwise, excellent condition.
Orazio de Attellis Santangelo (1774-1850), the last scion of a noble Italian family, became a soldier, political journalist and American patriot. As the Marquis of Sant'Angelo, he fought in several of the Napoleonic wars prior the restoration of the Bourbons. In 1824, he was forced to flee to the United States to escape arrest for his involvement in uprisings in Naples and Spain. He renounced his title and became an American citizen in 1828. His political activity continued, and because of his support for the Texans, Santangelo was first expelled from Mexico in 1826 and then again in 1835, after he had begun publishing a newspaper, El Correo Atlántico. Settling in New Orleans, Santangelo continued to issue the Correo, supporting Texas independence. In 1844 he published his The Texas Question, Reviewed by an Adopted Citizen. In 1847, Santangelo returned to Italy, where he remained embroiled in political affairs, up to his death in 1850. This print was drawn from life and lithographed by Charles Fenderich, a Swiss lithographer who had emigrated to Philadelphia in 1831. In Philadelphia, Fenderich issued a number of lithographs jointly with fellow Swiss artist J.C. Wild and also on his own until about 1837, at which time he moved to Washington, D.C. There Fenderich, realizing the opportunities afforded in the nation's capital, began to issue a series of fine lithographic portraits of, as he states in the title of his portfolio of prints, "Living American Statesman: embracing the Executive Officers of Government, Distinguished Members of Both Houses of Congress, and others of all Parties." These fine portraits were primarily based on his own life-drawings, for as his reputation spread, most of the political figures in Washington were delighted to sit for him. In all, Fenderich made about 84 portraits in Washington between 1837 and 1848, before he joined the California Gold Rush and finished his days as an artist on the west coast. Fenderich's portraits are not only beautifully made, but they provide us with excellent life-portraits of most of the important American statesmen of the third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century. $850
Gregor Reisch's Margarita Philosophica (Pearl of Wisdom) was an compendium of contemporary knowledge and science intended for young students. It included twelve sections: grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy and astrology, natural philosophy, the origin of things, powers of animal sensation, powers of the animal intellect, and moral philosophy. First published in 1503, it went through a number of editions through the sixteenth century, becoming one of the most influential works of the early Renaissance. Reisch (1467-1525) was a monk and prior of the Carthusian monastery at Freiburg, the confessor of Emperor Maximilian I, and the teacher of John Eck and Martin Waldseemüller. His Margarita Philosophica was influential not only because of its learned and encyclopedic yet accessible textual information, but because it was accompanied by numerous, delightful woodcuts illustrating the text. These are wonderful allegorical images from the early Renaissance.
A superb view of Hamburg from the river. Drawn from nature and lithographed by Wilhelm Heuer, the scene shows excellent detail of the city and the riparian parklands. The image is beautiful, with top rate drawing, lithography and hand coloring. As fine a view of Hamburg as there is. $850
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