JOHN BACHMANN (1814–1896) Birds’ Eye View of New-York & Brooklyn. 1851

JOHN BACHMANN (1814–1896)
Birds’ Eye View of New-York & Brooklyn
New York: J. Bachman, 1851
Lithograph with original hand color
24 3/4” x 31” sheet; 34 1/2” x 41 1/2” framed

This marvelous view of New York and Brooklyn is based on a drawing by the Swiss-American artist John Bachmann (1814-1896), and shows a vibrant seaport teeming with commercial vessels, a testament to the city’s prominence as a bustling center of business and industry.

This scene includes meticulous renderings of the architectural landscape of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, including Castle Garden, which was then an entertainment hall, he shown offshore of Battery Park. It would soon be surrounded with landfill as Manhattan’s shoreline was continually extended in the second half of the 19th century.