1857 – W. S. Stavenhagen – Riga in Livland

Title:                 Riga. In Livland.
(Riga in Livonia)
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Description:

This is a fine steel-engraved panorama of Riga from the Daugava, drawn by the Baltic German artist Wilhelm Siegfried Stavenhagen (1814–1881). Gustav Georg Lange of Darmstadt engraved and printed it for the Album livländischer Ansichten. This was the first volume of Stavenhagen’s celebrated Album baltischer Ansichten, a three-volume work of views of Livonia, Courland and Estonia that he published himself in Mitau (Jelgava).

The skyline of Riga stretches along the river:

• at the left, the Castle with its round tower, the spire of St James and the Lutheran Church of Jesus;
• in the centre, the baroque tower of the Cathedral;
• at the right, the tall spire of St Peter.

The Daugava is alive with traffic typical of the mid-19th-century port: a large merchant brig, paddle steamers, sailing boats, rowing boats and, in the foreground, long timber rafts floated down the river from the forests of the interior. The forest of masts along the quays shows Riga’s place as one of the busiest trading ports of the Russian Empire.

The plate is signed “W. Stavenhagen del[ineavit]” at lower left and “Stich & Druck von G. G. Lange in Darmstadt” at lower right.

Cartographer/Artist:    Wilhelm Siegfried Stavenhagen (1814–1881), del.; engraved by Gustav Georg Lange (1812–1873)

Publisher:                          W. S. Stavenhagen, Mitau

Atlas:                                    Album livländischer Ansichten (Album baltischer Ansichten, Vol. I)
Frame size:                          32,0 x 29,0 cm
Year:                                      1857
Technique:                           Steel engraving

Reference:                           cf. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Gr 2001/477 (Stavenhagen / Lange, Baltic views series)

Condition:
Very good. Fine, crisp impression with the engraved double borderline, title and signatures. The paper is lightly toned. It is framed under a cream mount in a silver-gilt frame, behind glass.

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This is an original antique map published in 1857 and NOT a modern copy or reprint