About this sheet
This original antique lithograph, hand colored, comes from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). The upper image shows a steam train of open carriages running along a high grassy embankment and over a red brick arch, while the road passes beneath it. Smoke trails back from the engine toward a tall factory chimney. Under and beside the arch, travelers walk the road, a light horse drawn gig moves off at the left, a distant carriage shows through the archway, and a group of men stands by a pink walled building at the right under a tall leafy tree. The lower image shows a closed dark green carriage carrying a man and a woman in a blue dress, drawn at the gallop by two gray horses with a rider in a top hat blowing a horn. A couple watches from the left, the woman in a yellow dress and red hood, a dog trots across the foreground, and behind them stands a pale arched gateway building with horsemen.
The lettering reads "Tom. IV" at the top left, "EUROPA" at the center and "Tav. 4" at the top right. The caption under the upper image reads "Strada ferrata che passa sopra ad una postale" (railway passing over a post road), and the caption under the lower image reads "Carrozza e Rimessa di Posta" (post carriage and post coach house).
The plate belongs to the general European section that opens the volume, and it sets the new railway beside the older system of post roads, on which carriages and horses were changed at regular stages. Steam railways were still new in 1842: the Stockton and Darlington line opened in England in 1825 and the Liverpool and Manchester in 1830, and lines spread across the continent in the following decade.
Its subject makes it a natural choice for a study, an office or a collection on the history of travel and transportation.
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.
