A VIEW OF THE GREAT COHOES FALLS ON THE MOHAWK RIVER, THE FALL ABOUT SEVENTY FEET; THE RIVER NEAR A QUARTER MILE BROAD.

Pownall, Thomas:

Published by London. 1768.

About this Item

This handsome view of one of the most famous sights in colonial America was originally drawn by Gov. Thomas Pownall, the enlightened British administrator who served in the American colonies in the 1750s and '60s. It was part of Pownall's larger project to create or commission a series of views in the British dominions in America from Quebec to the Caribbean, issued in parts in the 1760s and collectively in 1768 as SCENOGRAPHIA AMERICANA, with a total of twenty-eight plates. Only a few complete sets are known, and the plates generally appear singly, as here. This view was drawn by Pownall on one of his trips while governor of Pennsylvania and New York, probably about 1759. The Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk, now submerged beneath the water behind a dam, was a famous natural phenomenon in America, on the edge of what was then wilderness and before the more spectacular Niagara was reachable by anyone but fur traders. Pownall's view, taken from downstream looking up at the falls, captures the untamed wildness of the scene in a dramatic way. This is rare, as are all of the SCENOGRAPHIA. views. DEÁK, PICTURING AMERICA 106 (for a list of the views in the SCENOGRAPHIA AMERICANA). REESE & OSBORN, STRUGGLE FOR NORTH AMERICA 74 (ref). Mezzotint engraving, 36 x 53 cm. A very good, clean impression.

Seller Inventory # 13905

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A VIEW OF THE GREAT COHOES FALLS ON THE MOHAWK RIVER, THE FALL ABOUT SEVENTY FEET; THE RIVER NEAR A QUARTER MILE BROAD.
• Publisher: London. 1768.