Birch, Thomas. “View of the Water Gap and Columbia Glassworks River Delaware.”

Thomas Birch.  “View of the Water Gap and Columbia Glassworks River Delaware.” 

Philadelphia, ca. 1820.  12 5/8 x 19 1/4.  Aquatint by William Strickland.  Repaired tear into image right hand side.  Top and bottom right margin corners chipped.  Two small stains right hand margin one just touching image.  Light water stain in upper right portion of sky.  Two vertical soft folds. Else, fine condition.  Deak: 296.  Sold as is.  A/A   

A lovely early engraving by two of America’s most prominent craftsmen of the first part of the nineteenth century.  Thomas Birch is well remembered both for his work with his father on the series of views of Philadelphia and independently, for his achievements as a painter and engraver.  William Strickland has been immortalized in a group of impressive architectural monuments that he designed, which helped define the character of early 19th-century Philadelphia.  Although best known as an architect, to supplement his income, Strickland also worked as a painter and engraver.  The success of his collaboration with Birch is evident here.