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Lot 196
Description:
* Jacques Tanesse (New Orleans), "Plan of the City and Suburbs of New Orleans from an Actual Survey made in 1815 by J. Tanesse, City Surveyor", 1825, engraving, drawn by Jacques Tanesse, engraved by William Rollinson, published by Charles del Vecchio, N.Y., and Pierre Maspero, New Orleans, sheet 20 1/2 in. x 31 in., attractively float-mounted and framed.
- Notes: Note: This detailed engraving far surpasses any other printed view or map of New Orleans. Made by the surveyor Jacques Tanesse, the plan is an aerial projection from a height distant enough to give a good idea of the city's crescent shape. John Reps, Cornell University professor emeritus and cartographic scholar, calls Tanesse's work "one of the finest examples of 19th-century American urban cartography." By August 1817, the map was available in New Orleans when Tanesse presented two copies to the city, one for the mayor's office, the other for the council chamber. The city's various states of progress in the expansion are superbly charted in the plan's neat grid layout, which is accentuated by large open places given over to public plazas and buildings. Tanesse also includes the breastworks that proved to be very decisive in America's defeat of the British during the famous Battle of New Orleans in January of 1815 This interesting detail is shown perpendicular to the Mississippi River at the lower right-hand corner of the city plan. Twelve symmetrically placed border insets show the city's most important buildings, and all are drawn in elevation, with an occasional attempt at perspective. Although simply executed, they represent the French, Spanish, and American periods of New Orleans history. In the title cartouche, an exotic American Indian family of unknown tribe poses near a lion skin. Jacques Tanesse's plan was issued in two states: the first in 1817 and the second edition in 1825 This example, from the 1825 issue, celebrates the visit of General Lafayette to New Orleans, where he makes notable changes that took place to the city in the intervening eight years. Tanesse engraves the sixty-foot triumphal arch which was built in wood and canvas and erected at the Place d'Armes for the occasion of the General's arrival. This he sets at the bottom of the map on land across the river, which misleadingly suggests that it stood there. The arch was designed by city architect Joseph Pilié and painted to resemble marble by Jean Baptiste Fogliardi, the scene painter for the Théâtre d'Orléans. Another significant alteration is Tanesse's addition of a tower to the cathedral. The original rectangular format was adapted with the clever device of a lunette breaking the top of the border to accommodate the height of the new spire. References: Lemmon, Magill and Wiese, Charting Louisiana, H.N.O.C., 2003, p. 320; J.W. Reps, Cities of the American West (Princeton, 1979) 21, fig. 1.17; G.G. Deak, Picturing America, 1497-1899 (Princeton, 1988) 292; J.J. Poesch (ed.), Printmaking in New Orleans (Jackson, 2006) 78-79, fig. 9.
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June 25, 2011 10:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US
Neal Auction Company
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