Paul Sandby. "A View of Bethlem, the Great Moravian Settlement in the Province of Pennsylvania". After Thomas Pownall.
From Scenographia Americana. London, [1768]. 12 3/4 x 20. Engraving by Paul Sandby. Very good condition. Framed.
This print shows the Moravian community of Bethlehem, where a group of religious exiles from Bohemia and Moravia settled in 1740-41. Thomas Pownall, born in England in 1722, served in North America in various official positions between 1753 and 1760, including Governor of Massachusetts and South Carolina. During this time, Pownall travelled about colonies, keeping a journal and making sketches of the sites he visited. Upon his return to England, Pownall hired Paul Sandby, the drawing master at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, England, to work with him on producing a set of engraved scenes based upon Pownall's sketches. This set was entitled Six Remarkable Views in the Provinces of New-York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in North America, and it was first published in 1761. In 1768 these prints were incorporated into Scenographia Americana, a portfolio containing twenty-eight prints by Pownall and other artists. The engraving of the prints in these series is superb, with texture, lighting, and motion all conveyed with remarkable vividness.