Bachmann, John

New York [Union Square Looking South]

New York: Williams & Stevens, 353 Broadway, 1850.

Tinted lithograph (21 ¾" x 30 ¼") showing Union Square and Lower Manhattan, including Governors Island, parts of Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Narrows.

Backed on board and trimmed along lower margin, missing the publisher's line.


Likely the RARE THIRD STATE of Bachmann's print: "The first state has the same imprint except that the publisher's line reads: 'Published by John Bachmann, 5 Rector St. N. York.' The print is otherwise identical except for a fine line framing the rectangle. Impressions of the Williams & Stevens issue exist with the date in the copyright line changed to 1850" (STOKES; see also REPS #2651). Landmarks include Grace Church (erected 1846-1847), Castle Garden (present-day Castle Clinton National Monument), and Castle Williams on Governors Island.

REPS: "No finer artist of city views worked in America than John Bachmann. Unfortunately, there is no artist about whom less is known, for information concerning his life seems to be nonexistent. His name and its first appearance on a city view in 1849 strongly suggest that he was German and one of the many artists who came from that country in the middle and late 1840s as a result of political disturbances in their homeland."

Item #6BD0072

Price: $6,500