Basset
Representation de feu terrible a Nouvelle Yorck

EngraverParis, active late 18th century
PublisherParis, active late 18th century
CultureFrench
Titles
  • Representation de feu terrible a Nouvelle Yorck
  • Vue d'Optique of the New York Wall Street Fire
Datec. 1776
Place depictedNew York , New York, United States
Printed inParis, France
MediumEngraving with etching and watercolor on laid paper
DimensionsPlate: 11 × 16 in. (27.9 × 40.6 cm)
Sheet: 11 7/8 × 16 5/8 in. (30.2 × 42.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Kathy and Marty Goossen at "One Great Night in November, 2015"
Object numberB.2015.14
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

This print presents a European artist’s imagined view of the New York fire of September 19, 1776. The hand-colored print depicts several buildings (the original New York Stock Exchange, the original Kings College, and Trinity Church, among others) along a street fully engulfed in flames at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street. The print portrays great inferno that destroyed as many as 1,600 homes, churches, and schools in the British-occupied city during the American Revolution. The scene depicts British soldiers, dressed in their signature red coats, beating the city’s panicking inhabitants while others, portrayed as enslaved Africans, loot the blazing buildings.

Perspective views (or vues d’optique), like this one, were a type of print published in Europe during the 18th century and a form of entertainment meant to be seen through devices called optical machines, optiques, zograscopes, or peepshows. Their use of perspective lines make them visually playful and historically fascinating. The prints were exhibited by traveling showmen in the streets throughout Europe and were collected by those in the professional and upper classes who had the viewing devices at home.


ProvenancePrivate collection; [Early American History Auctions, Rancho Santa Fe, California, August 29, 2015, lot 1244]; purchased by MFAH, 2015.
Exhibition History"Radicals and Revolutionaries: America's Founding Fathers," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 10–May 28, 2018.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, above plate, center: REPRESENTATION DU FEU TERRIBLE A NOUVELLE YORCK. [in reverse]

Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below plate, center: Représentation du feu terrible à nouvelle Yorck, que les Américans ont allumé pendant la nuit du 19. septembre 1776. par lequel ont été brulés tous les Bâtimens du coté de Vest. / a droit de Borse, dans la rue de Broock jusqu’au college du Roi, et plus de 1600. maisons avec l’Eglise de la Se. Trinité la Chapelle Luthèrienne, et l’école des pauvres. [cursive]

Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below plate, center bottom edge: Paris chez Basset Rue S. Jacques au coin de la rue des Mathurins. [cursive]

Verso: Inscribed in graphite, top left corner: 5000 / £150’,-

Verso: Inscribed in graphite, bottom right corner: 42x30 / 38.5_x23 / D Pm 893



Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Der Einzug der Königlichen Volcker in neu Yorck. [Triumphal Entry of the British Troops into New York.]
François Xavier Habermann
c. 1776
Etching and engraving with watercolor on laid paper
B.2017.13
Compte Rendu (Account Rendered)
c. 1819
Etching with engraving and watercolor on laid paper
B.2023.8
Vue d’Optique/Die Zerstörung der Königlichen Bild Säule zu Neu Yorc (Optical View/Destruction of the Royal Statue in New York)
François Xavier Habermann
c. 1776
Etching and engraving with watercolor on laid paper
B.95.13
William Penn's Treaty with the Indians
John Hall
1775
Engraving and etching with watercolor on laid paper
B.95.12
November
Henry Fletcher
1730
Engraving, etching, gouache and watercolor on laid paper
B.59.68.6
July
Henry Fletcher
1730
Engraving with etching and watercolor on laid paper
B.55.17.3
October
Henry Fletcher
1730
Engraving, etching, gouache and watercolor on laid paper
B.59.68.5
June
Henry Fletcher
1730
Engraving with etching, watercolor, and gouache on laid paper
B.59.68.4
December
Henry Fletcher
1730
Engraving, etching, gouache and watercolor on laid paper
B.59.68.7
A South East View of the Great Town of Boston in New England in America
John Carwitham
c. 1765
Etching, engraving, and watercolor on laid paper
B.63.77
An East Perspective View of Philadelphia
John Carwitham
1778
Etching and engraving with watercolor and gouache on laid paper
B.63.78
A View of Bethlem, the Great Moravian Settlement in the Province of Pennsylvania
Paul Sandby
1768
Engraving and etching with watercolor hand coloring on laid paper
B.2017.10