Medium: Antique Architectural Steel Engraving: Print
Artist: Cesar-Denis Daly
From: Motifs Historiques d’Architecture et de Sculpture d’Ornement, 1869
Size: 12 1/2 x 17 3/4
Description: Antique print; pristine steel engravings from Daly’s history of architectural ornamentation in France from the 16th to 18th centuries, depicting both interior and exterior details

Photographed on a black background.
Printed the same year Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated as 18th US President.

Cesar-Denis Daly (1811-1894) was one of the leading architects and architectural critics of his day. He was the founder of Revue Generale d’Architecture, France’s first illustrated architectural journal and one of the foremost architectural journals on both sides of the Atlantic during the 19th century. “Daly’s theorization of those elements that determined the underlying infrastructure of cities and their centres, modern as well as ancient, was modelled upon Second-Empire Paris. Such a theory, which synthesized many early nineteenth century speculations on the modern city, was intended to serve as a rational foundation for urban reforms in the French capital… Daly was important, therefore, not only as an architectural critic but also as a significant thinker with respect to a theoretical understanding of city formation… His ideas, moreover, mark an important step in the eventual emergence of modern urban planning” (Nicholas Papayanis).

Steel Engraving is a technique for printing illustrations based on steel, rather than copper. It is the practice of incising a design onto steel by cutting grooves into it. An impression is created on the steel plate, which is then filled with opaque ink. When paper is pressed into the plate, it creates raised and colored areas. It has been rarely used in artistic printmaking, although it was often used for reproductions in the 19th century. The most reliable way of distinguishing between unfaced copper engraving and steel or steel-faced engraving is the “lightness and delicacy of the pale lines” in the latter.

No Reserve: This lot starts at $3 and has no reserve as a courtesy so that collectors can determine the true market value on this authentic item.

Slight wear due to the age of the piece