Birch, William — Samuel Seymour (engraver) | The City of New York in the State of New York, North America

Birch, William — Samuel Seymour (engraver)

The City of New York in the State of New York, North America. Springland, near Bristol, PA: William Birch and William H. Morgan, "1st January 1803" [but reissued ca. 1820]

Hand-colored copper engraving (sheet size: 556 x 727 mm). Occasional and faint foxing at margin. Framed; not examined out of frame.

A fine example of the third state of "the Birch View with the Picnic Party."

Depicting New York from across the East River in 1802, Birch’s rendering captures many of the city’s early iconic landmarks. From left to right, steeples towering above the city’s buildings represent notable places of worship, including Trinity Church, First Presbyterian Church, Middle Dutch Church, St. Paul’s Chapel, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, North Dutch Church, Brick Church, and St. George’s.

Philadelphia-based engraver Birch visited New York often and had hoped to pursue a series of views of the city similar to his Views of Philadelphia. However, as he explained in his unpublished autobiography, this did not come to fruition: “I took many turns to New York where I met with friendly reception and politeness. I had nearly completed a sett of drawings of that city which I meant to publish as a companion to the Philadelphia; but found profits of the undertaking was not equal to the expence of travelling and the support of my family” (quoted in Deak).

This version of the work differs from an earlier version in a few respects; most significantly, a grazing white horse foregrounded in the first edition is here replaced by a family enjoying a picnic in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.

REFERENCES

Cf. Deak, Picturing America 245; Stauffer 2884; cf. Stokes I, plate 77 and pp. 468-469