From William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
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AbeBooks Seller since 13 July 2006
About this Item
Aquatint with additional handcoloring and black border, 19˝ x 26Ľ inches (49˝ x 66˝ cm). Repaired tears to upper and lower margins, just touching the black borders. Otherwise a bright and clean copy. Matted. A striking aquatint view of New York in ruins after the devastating fire of 1835, executed by the skilled and prolific William Bennett after an original watercolor by an eyewitness of the event. The original artist, Nicolino Calyo, was an Italian painter who emigrated from Italy in 1834, specializing in close observation of people and places. He was present at the Great Fire of 1835, and sketched day and night as the city was destroyed. He painted a number of compositions in gouache based on his sketches, and Bennett created his aquatint engravings from his images. The fire supposedly began on Merchant Street and quickly spread to Pearl Street and grew wildly out of control. Frigidly cold temperatures meant frozen pipes and fire hoses which hampered containment efforts, and it wasn't until conditions improved a few days later that the damage could be surveyed and the rubble cleared. Seven hundred houses over seventeen blocks on the south east tip of Manhattan were destroyed in the conflagration, including the Old Garden Street Church pictured in this print; this print is one of if not the only contemporary representation of this church, which had been built in 1807. Former Mayor Philip Hone wrote about the disaster in his journal: "How shall I record the events of last night, or how attempt to describe the most awful calamity which has ever visited these United States? The greatest loss by fire that has ever been known.I am fatigued in body, disturbed in mind, and my fancy filled with images of horror which my pen is inadequate to describe. Nearly one half of the first ward is in ashes." William James Bennett (ca. 1787-1844) was born in England and received his training at the Royal Academy. He emigrated to the United States in 1826, and is best known for his views of American cities, including the Hudson Valley Region, Niagara Falls, West Point, and numerous port cities such as New York, Charleston, and Buffalo. With the arrival of William Bennett and several other émigré artists such as William Guy Wall and John Hill, the quality of aquatint engraving in America was elevated to a level equaling that of European printmakers. A dramatic example from this important period in early American viewmaking. DEÁK, PICTURING AMERICA 439. STOKES, ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, p.617-18. STAUFFER 141. Seller Inventory # WRCAM59057
Bibliographic Details
Title: VIEW OF THE RUINS AFTER THE GREAT FIRE IN ...
Publisher: Lewis P. Clover, New York
Publication Date: 1836
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