Imaginary View of the Entrance to the Chesapeake Bay During the Revolutionary War

"Entree dans la Baye de Chesapeak dans l'Amerique", Anon.

This lovely engraving shows an imaginary view of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, with numerous anchored galleons, including one under repair. Along the dock are soldiers and stacks of barrels and crates. In the background are fortifications along the river entrance, partially in ruins. The engraving is based on a drawing by Claude Joseph Vernet, a prolific French painter who specialized in marine and port views. Vernet drew several views of American port cities during the Revolutionary War, including Savannah, Port Royal, and Fredericksburg. He never traveled to the New World and did not use actual depictions of the ports in his renderings, but rather used his own European paintings as the basis for creating the American views. Despite their remarkable inaccuracy, the views were well received in France as representations of pro-American sympathies.

References: cf. Deak #147.

Condition: A

A dark, crisp impression with marginal soiling and a few short edge tears that have been closed with archival tape.