Mariahilfkirche, Au, Munich, Antique Steel Engraving after L. Lange, circa 1840

A tall, upright view of the new parish church of the Au in Munich, the Mariahilfkirche, seen square on from the open square before it. The great Gothic Revival facade rises in a single soaring composition, with a rose window over the portal, pinnacles at every corner and an openwork spire climbing high into a cloudy sky, while the long nave stretches back at left.

A religious procession fills the foreground, with a canopy carried at the head and crowds of townspeople in their Sunday dress gathered around the portal and a fountain at right. An older church tower stands at left, and the snowy peaks of the Alps appear faintly on the horizon.

The Mariahilfkirche in the Au, a suburb on the right bank of the Isar, was built between 1831 and 1839 and was one of the first major Gothic Revival churches in Germany. The sheet is lettered in German "Die neue Pfarrkirche der Vorstadt Au in München" and credits the drawing to Ludwig Lange and the steel engraving to G.A. Müller, with the publishers' lines of G.G. Lange in Darmstadt and G. Franz in Munich. A blindstamp of G. Franz, München is pressed into the margin.

This is a steel engraving of fine, silvery quality, the tracery of the facade picked out line by line and the sky laid in delicate ruled tones.

The strong vertical design makes it a fine piece for a narrow wall, perhaps in a hallway or beside a staircase, in a plain black frame.

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