NATTES (John-Claude). Versailles, Paris and Saint-Denis, or - Lot 122

NATTES (John-Claude). Versailles, Paris and Saint-Denis, or a series of views from drawings made on the spot, by J. C. Nattes, illustrative of the capital of France, and surrounding places. With an historical and descriptive account. London, Miller, s. d. (1809-1811). In-folio, havana half calf, corners, ornate spine, marbled boards. (Contemporary binding). An extremely rare work, and one of the most beautiful of its kind, it contains 40 large hors-texte plates drawn from life by Nattes and engraved in aquatint by Hill, with bilingual French-English captions, and colored by hand. English, and colored at the time. These plates are preceded by a historical and descriptive text in English. John Claude Nattes (1765-1822) was one of the most remarkable English landscape painters and watercolorists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He produced numerous views of England, Scotland and Ireland, before moving on to landscapes of northern France and this suite of Versailles, Paris and Saint-Denis. The plates depict views of Paris' surroundings, Versailles, Trianon, Saint-Cloud, Bagatelle, Arcueil and, of course, Paris, but a Paris we're not used to, the Paris of the banks of the Seine with the boatmen, the curious Paris with "La Pompe à feu du Gros Caillou", an "Arche du pont Saint-Michel", "Le lavoir de l'Hôtel-Dieu", "Le pont Saint-Charles" seen from below, the underside of "L'Arche de Givry", "Les bains de Julien", "La halle aux bleds", "Les fossés de la Bastille", "Le moulin de Charenton". Abbey, 103; Brunet, IV-20; Graesse, IV-649.