"[Lot of 3] Le Chateau de Versailles et ses deux Aisles, Veues du cote des Jardins [and] La Machine [and] Coupe de la Machine de Marly [on sheet with] Veue Generale de la Machine de Marly", Fer, Nicolas de

Three fine engravings that show the chateau of Versailles with its magnificent gardens and fountains and the incredible Machine of Marly that provided the water to make those fountains possible. The machine was built on the banks of the Seine by Louis XIV in 1684. It was a civil engineering marvel designed to pump water from the river to the chateaux of Versailles and Marly. Fourteen paddlewheels, each about 36 feet in diameter, were turned by the Seine to power more than 250 pumps, forcing river water up a series of pipes to the Louveciennes aqueduct, a 500 foot vertical rise. This incredible machine was in use until 1817, when it was updated and rebuilt.

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Condition: A

Sharp impressions with minor soil in margins.