Antique View of the Aqueduct near Belgrade, Hand Colored Aquatint, 1809

An original antique aquatint with original hand color, published in London in 1809, after a drawing by Luigi Mayer. The caption reads "AQUEDUCT NEAR BELGRADE.", Belgrade here being the village in the Belgrade Forest north of Istanbul, whose aqueducts carried water to the city.

A long aqueduct of brick and stone crosses the view from the right, built in tiers of round arches, with plants and small trees growing along its top. At its foot a stretch of still water runs under the lower arches, which stand on pointed cutwaters. A road passes beneath the far arches, with covered wagons drawn by oxen, and another wagon climbs the low hill at the left. In the foreground a rider and a man on foot stand at the water's edge, a small group of men and women in colored dress walk on the path toward the viewer, and two men sit on the grassy bank at the left. Birds circle in the open sky.

The caption is engraved in open capitals below the image, and the imprint beneath it names R. Bowyer at 80 Pall Mall and the year 1809. No artist or engraver is named on the plate; the aquatints in this book are unsigned and are probably the work of William Watts.

The plate belongs to 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). Luigi Mayer (1755 to 1803) was an Italian born artist who worked in the Ottoman Empire for Sir Robert Ainslie, British ambassador at Constantinople from 1776 to 1792.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom edge. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete. One larger brown mark.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.