Kip, Johannes

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These hand-colored copper engravings from Britannia Illustrata or Perspective Views of the Royal Palaces, London, c1707-1715, were produced by Dutch draughtsman and engraver, Johannes Kip, (or Kyp), who worked with Leonard Knyff (1650-1721), Dutch draughtsman and painter, on topographical views of British country houses and gardens. The colorful views, sometimes called "Kips Views" or "Kyps Views", are interesting in that they depict the estate grounds and gardens from an imaginative bird’s eye perspective. They were published in Britannia Illustrata (1707) and Le Nouveau Theatre de la Grande Bretagne (1715).

de Laborde, Comte Louis-Joseph-Alexandre

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Comte Louis-Joseph-Alexandre de Laborde (1773 - 1842) was a French antiquary, liberal politician and writer, and a member of the Academie des Sciences morales et politiques (1832).

In 1800, he was named as an attaché to the French embassy in Madrid. Here he assembled a team of artists and writers to create and publish Voyage pittoresque et historique en l’Espagne that contained over 900 views of Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, and other antiquities in Spain engraved on copper plate. It was published between 1807 and 1818.

Laborde conceived the project of compiling a complete inventory of the archaeological heritage of France, and published his work in 1836. His luxurious publication seriously undermined his finances, but he remained a figure of high society of the French Empire. Presented here are extra fine hand colored copper plate engravings taken from Laborde's Les Monumens De La France.

Lorraine, Claude

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Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) was a French painter considered one of the great masters of 17th-century ideal-landscape painting, presenting nature as harmonious, serene, and often majestic. His subject matter is taken from Greek, Roman, or biblical sources, and human figures in the landscape are often pictured in pastoral or antique dress. Lorrain is considered one of the great painters of light. In 1635-36 he began the Liber Veritatis or "Book of Truth", a volume containing 195 drawings carefully copied by Lorrain after his own paintings. Presented here are mezzotints created after Liber Veritatis in London, circa 1817.

Merigot, James

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James Merigot was a landscape artist and master drawing teacher in Paris in 1772. He moved to London sometime after 1791. In London, he was able to established himself as a drawing master and publisher of meticuloulsy made aquatint etchings that appeared in numerous British publications. Presented here are supurb aquatints from A Select Collection of Views and Ruins in Rome and its Vicinity ...

Melling, Antoine Ignace

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Born in Lorraine in 1763, Antoine Ignace Melling, artist and voyager, was trained in painting and architecture. He went to Constantinople to seek his fortune and was shortly appointed as the imperial architect by the Ottoman sultan. During his 18 year tenure, he designed and landscaped a seaside palace for the sultans sister, and in his leisure hours, drew a number of astonishing panoramic views of the beautiful city. He returned to Paris in 1803 and established an engraving studio for the purpose of reproducing his drawings for subscribers. His work was so well liked that he was appointed landscape painter for the emperor Napoleon's wife Josephine, and in 1821 was sent by the French government to document the Pyrenees mountains and demonstrate that their natural beauty rivalled that of the Alps. These beautiful hand-colored aquatints were among 72 originally issued in Voyage Pittoresque dans Les Pyrenees Francaises, and are based on original watercolor paintings.

de Mortain, Gilles

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These hand-colored copper engravings of the chateau and gardens at Versailles were made at the very end of King Louis XIV's life in 1715 by Gilles de Mortain. An architect and landscape designer, de Mortain was responsible for the integration of buildings into their surroundings. He envisioned long symmetrical bilateral vistas for ceremonies and processions. They are considered the best record of the chateau and its gardens in their most complete state.

Roberts, David

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Beginning his career as a house painter then as a talented theatrical back drop painter specializing in landscape, David Roberts was vaulted into the European art scene when he began exhibiting oil and watercolors at the Royal Academy in London in 1825. He loved to travel, and in 1832 spent over a year in Spain and Morocco, painting during the entire trip. His art was easily sold and subsequently published as a travel book of 27 lithographs in Picturesque Sketches of Spain. With his new treasury, Roberts undertook a long journey through Egypt, Nubia, and the Holy Land in 1838 and 1839, sketching and painting over 200 images during the extended trip. Upon his return to London, he was made a full member of the Royal Academy and the works from his Eastern travels were displayed and published as lithographs in parts beginning in 1842. Presented here are rare and spectacular hand colored lithographs taken from the Royal Subscriber Edition of his landmark publication Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land, one of the greatest travel publications of the 19th century.

Miscellaneous

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Miscellaneous antiquarian landscape prints.