J. L. BELL is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75. He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

“British Troops barricade Boston harbor against the Beast from the Unknown”

An historic-style print by “European artist Franz Xaver Habermann” available through Etsy.

The same shop also offers an engraving of John Trumbull’s “Signing of the Declaration of Independence,” with carefully researched portraits of the notables “John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Metallo the Mechanical Man, Charles Thompson, and John Hancock (seated).”

(Hat tip to Benjamin Carp.)

3 comments:

Peter Ansoff said...

This is obviously a doctored version of Habermann's engraving "Vue de Boston." The LOC has several impressions of the original here:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96522959/

It was apparently a "vue d'optique", because the title is reversed.

J. L. Bell said...

Ironically, Habermann’s original engravings were nearly as fanciful as this one. He created them for a German audience that didn’t know what Boston or other American sites looked like, and put in whatever architecture he felt like drawing.

Chaucerian said...

Gotta love the name of the Etsy seller. Verbum sap.