Megeve (Migeve), Savoy, Antique Steel Engraving after W. Brockedon, 1837

About this sheet

A lively steel engraving of the Alpine village of Megeve in Savoy, lettered "Migeve" in the old spelling. The village square opens before the church, whose bell tower carries a clock and a tall onion-shaped spire; beside it stands a round tower with a conical roof and a covered lych gate. Chalets with deep, overhanging roofs line the left of the scene, and a humped stone bridge carries a crowd of people toward the square, while a broad mountain slope rises behind.

In the foreground a herdsman with a bundle on his back drives goats along the road, cattle come up from the left, and at right two men stand on a rocky outcrop under a great leafy tree, watching the scene. A few villagers talk in the square and others lean from a window at left.

Megeve lies in the Haute-Savoie, in the mountains west of Mont Blanc, and in the 1830s Savoy was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which is why the title is given in English, French and German. The drawing is by William Brockedon, the English painter and writer celebrated for his studies of the Alpine passes, and the plate was engraved by S. Lacey. The imprint reads "London, Published for the Proprietors, by Geo: Virtue, 26, Ivy Lane, 1837," so this impression dates from the first issue.

The technique is steel engraving, with crisp detail in the timber of the chalets, the stonework of the bridge and the fine leaves of the tree. The printed image is clean, and the three-language title and credits sit in the lower margin.

For a mountain chalet, a ski lodge or anyone with a fondness for the French Alps, this view would look at home in a rustic pine or light oak frame, perhaps in a pair with another Alpine scene.

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.