Des Barres Four Views of Boston

Four Views of Boston. Joseph Frederick Wallet des Barres (1732-1824). Engravings with original hand color. London, c. 1777. 31 x 23 inches sheet, 33 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches frame. "Boston, seen between Castle William and Gavernors Island, Distant 4 Miles; Appearance of the Highlands of Agameticus, New Penobscot Hills to the Eastwards at 3 to 4 Leagues off Shore; Boston Bay, the lighthouse bearing N. W. by W Distant one League; The Entrance of Boston Harbor" Des Barres had been sent to America by the British Admiralty to survey the coasts of the Maritime Provinces. These provinces, so recently acquired from France, had never been adequately mapped, and Des Barres spent the next ten years constructing a series of charts of unparalleled accuracy and beauty. At the outset of the American Revolution, he was assigned the task of compiling his work into an atlas that would enable the British Navy and Merchant Marines to navigate safely in North American waters. Des Barres returned to England in 1774 and began to prepare his charts for publication. Yet the contents of his Atlas, Atlantic Neptune, were not limited to sea charts for military use, for it included several more evocative and artistic views like this one. Clearly Des Barres's interests in America transcended those imposed upon him by the English military, for this view was included in the Atlantic Neptune not because of its strategic usefulness, but because of its aesthetic appeal. The inherent merit of this finely engraved view is made more lustrous because it was included in only a handful of copies of the atlas, and is today infamously rare. Des Barres's Atlantic Neptune, remains one of the landmark monuments in coastal mapping, and this singular view offers a rare glimpse into the cartographer's considerable artistic talents.