[SOUTH AMERICA.]
Album of sketches made in Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
1840s?
Oblong album (145 x 220 mm), with 25 sketches, mostly in pencil, a few in watercolour, some with captions in French, across 49 leaves of cream, grey, and brown paper (many blank); a few marks but overall very good in dark brown morocco, covers embossed in blind with gilt borders and cornerpieces, spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers; some splitting to lower joint, some wear to extremities and rubbing to covers.
An attractive album of sketches by an anonymous Francophone artist made during a trip to South America.
The album opens with sketches of three important buildings in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago: Holy Trinity Cathedral, completed in 1823 (‘Eglise Protestante Trinidad’); the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, finished in 1832 (‘Eglise Catholique’); and St James Barracks, built in 1824, here shown in two views, the first with soldiers being drilled on the parade ground. Another captioned sketch depicts the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Altagracia in Caracas, Venezuela.
The remainder of the album includes several coastal views of ports and sailing ships; a few portraits; a watercolour of two parrots; another showing a squirrel, monkey, and bird feasting on fruits; and an ornate vase laden with flowers including tulips.
