Palace of Saint Cloud after Thomas Allom, Antique Steel Engraving, circa 1860

A steel engraving of the Palace of Saint-Cloud near Paris, drawn by Thomas Allom, in the later issue of the London Printing and Publishing Company.

The classical facade of the palace, with its pedimented center and colonnaded ground floor, fills the right of the sheet. A party of mounted officers gathers on the terrace, and in the foreground a rider in a plumed hat gallops past a curved balustrade with his hand raised in salute. Jets of water rise from the fountain basins at left beneath dense trees.

The plate is lettered "Drawn by T. Allom" and "Engraved by H. Adlard", with the title "Palace of Saint Cloud", captions in French and German, "Palais de Saint-Cloud" and "Palast zu St. Cloud", and the imprint "The London Printing and Publishing Company Limited". The plate was first issued by Fisher, Son and Co. in the 1840s; this later imprint dates the impression to circa 1860.

The palace was a favorite residence of Napoleon and of Napoleon III, and it was burned in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and never rebuilt, so prints such as this record how it looked.

A handsome subject for a dining room or library, and a natural pair with other views of French palaces. The engraved image measures about 12.2 by 18.8 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.