Views of the Falls of Niagara - photo 1
Views of the Falls of Niagara - photo 2
Views of the Falls of Niagara - photo 3
Views of the Falls of Niagara - photo 4
Views of the Falls of Niagara - photo 5

Views of the Falls of Niagara

Lot 34
16.06.2023 16:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 11 970
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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Archive
ID 965123
Lot 34 | Views of the Falls of Niagara
Estimate value
$ 12 000 – 18 000
Views of the Falls of Niagara
Henry S. Davis, 1848
DAVIS, Henry S. Views of the Falls of Niagara, Painted on the Spot in the Autumn of 1846. London: Thomas M’Lean, 1848.

Extremely rare monumental views of Niagara Falls, and an early example of chromolithography. These little known views are rather exhilarating. Davis is careful to place figures, people or birds, in the midst of the falls for a sense of scale and danger. In the view featuring Table Rock, an artist and two others are perched near the edge of the Rock, with the foreground greatly simplified; to increase the sense of torrent even further, a lightning storm approaches in the distance. "The four compositions are among the most romanticized conceptions of Niagara's grandeur" (Corcoran). Davis himself notes, "...though constantly at work with a pencil near and about the Falls, I could never divest myself of a nervous desire to complete hastily what I was occupied with, in order that I might get away from the awful and imposing scene, with its accompaniments of deafening noise, boiling hissing spray, and blinding mist" (text introduction).

This is very early for chromolithography in England and not much is known of J. Needham and A. Laby. They lithographed a work after the paintings of George French Angas shortly after this one, but in this case reverted to hand-colored lithographs. Only one set appears in the auction records of RBH and it may well be this one, sold at Sotheby's in 1969. Not in TPL, Lande, Dow or Spendlove. Bobins 45. See Niagara: Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697-1901, Corcoran Galleries catalogue, 1987, p.38.
The views are titled:
1. Horse Shoe Fall, from Goat Island
2. Great Horse Shoe Fall, from the Foot of the Shaft below Table Rock
3. Sunset, — from Goat Island (two repaired tears into image)
4. Horse Shoe Fall, from S.W. Edge, near the Table Rock

Broadsheet folio (870 x 492mm). Four chromolithographed plates by J. Needham and A. Laby after the paintings of Major Henry Davis (small edge tears and light marginal spotting, pl.3 with two repaired tears encroaching on image, pl.4 with a toned margin). With folio text leaflet (590 x 428mm) laid in. Four pages, comprising title printed in blue, introduction and contents illustrated with two duotone lithograph vignettes and a lithographed pictorial initial pasted in, and a full-page map of the Niagara (map toned). Loose as issued in original wrappers printed in red and black (backstrip and edges worn, long repaired tear to rear wrapper); modern solander box with leather cover label.Davis, Henry S.
Niagara Falls
Place of origin:Northern Europe, Europe, United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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16.06.2023
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