Luxembourg Palace Garden Front, Paris, Engraving after Thomas Allom, c. 1845

A steel engraving of the garden front of the Luxembourg Palace, Paris, drawn by Thomas Allom and engraved by E. Radclyffe.

The view looks across the parterre toward the long garden front of the palace, with its central dome and pavilions. Behind it rise the two towers of Saint-Sulpice. Fashionable couples lean on the stone balustrade in the foreground, children run past great vases held up by carved figures, and strollers fill the gravel walks between the clipped beds.

The plate is lettered "Drawn by T. Allom" and "Engraved by E. Radclyffe", with the title "Garden Front of the Luxembourg, Paris" and captions in French and German, "Façade du Luxembourg, côté du jardin" and "Façade des Luxembourg, von der Seite des Gartens". This impression shows no publisher's line below the captions. The same plate, with the imprint of Fisher, Son and Co., belongs to Allom's views of France published in the 1840s, and this sheet is dated circa 1845.

The palace was built for Marie de' Medici in the early seventeenth century and became the seat of the French Senate. Allom was one of the finest architectural draughtsmen of the period, and his figures give the garden its lively, social air.

An elegant view for a living room or hallway, and a natural pair with other Paris views. The engraved image measures about 12.6 by 19.5 cm (height by width), and the margins around it carry all the original lettering, which is worth keeping visible in the mat.

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