Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam, Antique Engraving after Auguste Anastasi, circa 1880

A garden view of Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great at Potsdam. From a shaded avenue the eye looks past a marble statue of a woman on a tall pedestal, across a broad fountain basin with a high jet of water, to the famous terraces climbing the hillside and the long, low palace with its central dome at the top.

Visitors stroll on the steps and along the balustrade, a mother and child walk by the basin, and two small figures with a dog play in the foreground. Large shade trees frame the scene at right and dense foliage at left.

Sanssouci was built in the 1740s for Frederick II of Prussia as a retreat above a series of terraced vineyards, and its gardens became one of the great sights of Germany. The print is captioned "SANS-SOUCI." in letterpress beneath the image, and the block is signed at lower left by the painter Aug. Anastasi (Auguste Anastasi, the French landscape painter). A second, smaller signature at lower right, presumably the engraver's, is not legible.

This is a wood engraving, printed with the caption as a book or periodical illustration. The tones are built from fine parallel lines that the engraver varies in weight to model the trees, water and sky, with a lively, sketch-like quality in the foliage.

A pleasant garden subject for a sunroom, a guest bedroom or a reading corner, it frames well in a simple wood molding.

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