Moonlit Island of Tortosa, Syria, Antique Hand Colored Aquatint, 1810
€ 385
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1810
Mapmaker / artist
Luigi Mayer
Publisher
R. Bowyer, 80 Pall Mall, London
Technique
Aquatint
Coloring
Original hand color
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14411-1
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.
About this sheet
An original antique aquatint with original hand color, 1810, one of the views drawn by Luigi Mayer and published in London by Robert Bowyer. The caption engraved below the image reads "THE ISLAND OF TORTOSA."
A night view of the Island of Tortosa under a full moon breaking through heavy cloud. At the left a great wall of squared blocks rises out of the water, with tumbled stones at its foot and a small figure climbing among them; a sailing boat lies close in against the rocks, its loose brown sails hanging from the yard.
In the foreground four men row a small boat across the moonlit water, and a second boat with a crew of rowers crosses at the right. Beyond them a fortified castle with square and round towers stands on a rocky rise, and to the right broken stretches of masonry rise from the shore, with figures on top and the masts of ships behind them.
No artist or engraver is named on the plate, and it carries no plate number. The caption is engraved in open capitals below the image, and beneath it a publication line in script gives the publisher Robert Bowyer, his address at 80 Pall Mall, and the date 1810. The plate comes from Views in the Ottoman Dominions, in Europe, in Asia, and some of the Mediterranean Islands, from the original drawings taken for Sir Robert Ainslie, by Luigi Mayer, printed by T. Bensley for R. Bowyer in London in 1810 with 71 hand colored aquatint plates (Abbey, Travel II, 371; Tooley 321). In the book each plate was accompanied by a page of descriptive text in French and English. The plates are unsigned; the aquatint work is probably by William Watts. Luigi Mayer (1755 to 1803) was an Italian born artist who worked in the Ottoman Empire for Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador at Constantinople. The Island of Tortosa is the island now called Arwad, off the town of Tartus on the Syrian coast.
Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
