H.P. Source
32
APPERT, A[rnaud]. after CHAPUIS [CHAPUYS, Nicolas Marie Joseph]; [printed by] CHARDON, Alfred Aspect General de Londres Vue Prise de l’Abbaye de Westminster. Publication Paris, Publie par A. Appert 65 Rue de Paris à Belleville, [c1850]. Description Engraving with aquatint. Dimensions Image: 517 by 835mm (20.25 by 32.75 inches). Sheet: 635 by 870mm (25 by 34.25 inches). References BM Crace Suppl.III.
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APPERT, A[rnaud] after CHAPUIS [CHAPUYS, Nicolas Marie Joesph] Aspect Général de Londres Vue Prise de l’Abbaye de Westminster. Publication Paris, Publiée par A. Appert, Grande Rue, No. 111, aux Paris St. Gervais (Banlieu de Paris), [c1850]. Description Engraving with aquatint. Dimensions Image: 517 by 835mm. (20.25 by 32.75 inches). Sheet: 635 by 870mm (25 by 34.25 inches).
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DANIEL CROUCH RARE BOOKS
The rare first state of Appert’s bird’s-eye view from above the Palace of Westminster, which is still under construction: The Victoria Tower, the Clock Tower, and the ventilator tower of the Houses of Parliament are incomplete. Hungerford Suspension Bridge, completed 1845 is shown, but Victoria Street, opened 1851, is not. Two mysterious tents are to be seen on the Lambeth waterfront between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges. Trains run to Waterloo Station, which opened 1848. A related drawing, measuring 532 by 1485mm, was auctioned at Christies, 21 June 1974, and a related oil painting measuring 546 by 1498mm was auctioned at Christies on 5 September 2002. This painting was a copy of state (6) (item 35). ‘Chapuis’ is probably a misspelling of Chapuy, meaning the topographical artist Nicolas Marie Joseph Chapuy. The print was one of a series of bird’s-eye views of major European cities, including an ‘Aspect Général de Rome’ by Appert, an ‘Aspect Général de Naples’ by Appert after J.-A. Testard, and an ‘Aspect Général de Paris’ after A. Testard. A bird’s-eye view of St Petersburg is reproduced in Sotheby’s sale catalogue of Russian books, 27 November 2006, where it is described as being by A. Appert after J. Charlemagne: it has a Russian title.
The Houses of Parliament are shown complete, and a clutter of old buildings previously shown immediately to the west of the new buildings has been removed. More traffic is shown crossing Westminster Bridge. Tracery has been added to the south transept window of Westminster Abbey. In the distance King’s Cross Station and Bishopsgate Station have been added. A previously unrecorded (third) state of Appert’s view. Hyde gives the second state as bearing the imprint ‘N. RÉMOND, IMP. rue de la Vielle Estrapade, 15, PARIS.’ (as in the Guildhall Library example, for example), and the third state with A. Salmon’s particulars (as below). The present example was published before the addition of Salmon as printer, but with the imprint : ‘Publiée par A. Appert, Grande Rue, No. 111, aux Paris St. Gervais (Banlieu de Paris)’.
CATALOGUE VIII - PANORAMAS AND PROSPECTS