Robert Havell, 1841

HAVELL, Robert (1793-1878). View of the City of Boston from Dorchester Heights. New York: published by W.A. Coleman for Robert Havell, [1841].

A fine view of Boston. "Robert Havell gives us a majestic view of Boston composed of highly ordered elements: the open-spaced rusticity of the foreground, which serves as a staging area for viewing the city, is linked to the densely developed metropolis in the background by a curving watercourse ... The city itself is presented most appealingly in the configuration of a terraced pyramid where solid buildings and graceful church spires make their way steadily to the top. Although an air of ... tranquillity prevails, the sky-canopied view is crowded to the very edges with signs of industrial and trading activities. Bostonians familiar with the nineteenth-century topography of their city are likely to be able to identify a host of buildings and locations. The most conspicuous architectural landmark is ... the State House, the large, domed building at the pinnacle of the view" (Deák). Havell, the master English engraver renowned for his collaboration with John James Audubon on The Birds of America, emigrated to New York in 1839 and became a landscape painter of note. Deák 509.

Aquatint engraved by Robert Havell after his own painting, printed by W. Neale in blue and black inks, finished with hand-coloring by Havell and Spearing, 390 x 520mm plate on 480 x 620mm sheet (visible). Matted and framed (unexamined out of frame).