Hancock, Robert "The great Cataract or Waterfall, of Niagara in North America"

After Robert Hancock. "The great Cataract or Waterfall, of Niagara in North America."

From Charles Theodore Middleton's A New and Complete System of Geography. London: J. Cooke, 1778-79. Volume II, 1779. 6 3/8 x 10 1/2. Engraving. Dow: 877; Impressions of Niagara: 15.

An eighteenth century view of Niagara Falls after an image drawn by Robert Hancock. Hancock's rendering is a derivative of Louis Hennepin's 1697 view-the first print of Niagara ever published-by way of Henry Popple's inset on his 1733 map of North America. In his inset, Popple extended the Hennepin view with a coulisse on the left side, increased the size of the group of on-lookers, and added some exaggerated pine trees around the Falls. Hancock's image of Niagara is a further variation on the Popple scene, with Hennepin's "third cascade" eliminated and a few other minor changes made. Hancock's version of the Hennepin image was first issued as a perspective view, and this was followed shortly thereafter by a number of engravings based on Hancock which appeared in various eighteenth century geographies including Middleton's Geography. With these many versions, Hancock's image of Niagara was probably the most extensively disseminated, and thus most widely known, picture of the Falls in the eighteenth century.