Palace of Saint Cloud, France, Antique Engraving after Thomas Allom, circa 1845

The Palace of Saint-Cloud, west of Paris, is shown here from its gardens on a bright, breezy day. The long classical facade, with its pedimented center, tall arched windows and high slate roofs crowded with chimneys, fills the right half of the picture. A colonnaded ground floor opens onto a terrace where a cavalcade of mounted officers is gathering.

In the foreground a uniformed rider in a plumed hat gallops past a curved stone balustrade, raising his hand in salute, while a sentry stands at attention beside a pedestal at right. To the left, tall jets of water rise from the basins, and walkers stroll along the upper terrace beneath a dense mass of trees.

The plate is lettered with its title in English, French and German and credits the drawing to Thomas Allom and the engraving to H. Adlard. The imprint is that of Fisher, Son and Co., London and Paris, the house that issued Allom's trilingual views of France in France Illustrated in the 1840s. The palace itself was burned in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and was never rebuilt, so prints such as this one are among the records of how it looked.

It is a steel engraving, with the sky worked in fine ruled lines and clouds, and the facade drawn in careful architectural detail.

A handsome subject for a dining room or a library wall, it pairs naturally with other views of French palaces and gardens under a cream mat.

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