Burton, Charles “Penitentiary, Philadelphia.”

Charles Burton.  “Penitentiary, Philadelphia.”  From John H. Hinton’s The History and Topography of the United States of North America. 

Boston: 1843.  Second American Edition.  5 3/8 x 8 (image).   Steel engraving by J. Archer.  Very good condition.  

When the Eastern State Penitentiary opened in 1829 it was a new type of prison where it was hopes inmates could be rehabilitated by reflecting on their offenses, as penitents.  This novel perspective was a great curiosity to European visitors and reformers. 

Charles Burton, an English artist best known for his attractive views issued in Hinton’s History, was an accomplished draftsman and landscape and portrait painter who lived in America from 1819 to 1842.  After painting and exhibiting a number of views of New York City, several of which are said to have been given to Lafayette when he visited the city, and completing his illustrations for Hinton, Burton moved south, working as an instructor in the arts in Baltimore and Virginia.