Louis Nicolas de Lespinasse
(1734–1808)
View of Two Banks of the Seine, Paris
Pen and brown ink and watercolor, heightened with white, over preliminary drawing in graphite; fine ruled border in pen and black ink
12 7/8 x 24 13/16 inches (326 x 630 mm)
Purchased on the Lois and Walter C. Baker Fund
1994.17
Item description:
Lespinasse, whose precision and finesse as a topographical draftsman were virtually unmatched in eighteenth-century France, was at the height of his ability when he made this view of Paris overlooking the Pont Notre-Dame with the Pont Marie in the background. The bell tower of the Hôtel de Ville and the towers of the churches Saint-Jean en Grève and Saint-Gervais appear on the left side of the drawing. On the right is the Ile de la Cité with one of the towers of Notre-Dame just visible.