Prints of Niagara Falls
18th Century
[ Index | 1801 to 1810 ]
An example of the first print of Niagara Falls, from the third plate, second state. "It is plain, I think, that the first picture of Niagara Falls was not engraved from any sketch or drawing `made on the spot.' It couldn't be, and be so wrong." (Severance, p.117) The image was drawn based on Hennepin's text, perhaps by Jan van Vianen, whose name appears on other Hennepin illustrations. Hennepin's view was first published 1697 in Utrecht in the first edition of Nouvelle Decouverte d'un tres grand Pays Situe dans l'Amerique.
2. After Louis Hennepin. [Chute d'eau de Niagara.] UR: "Pag. 19." From De Gedenkwaardige West-Indise Voyagien, Gedaan door Christoffel Columbus, Americus Vesputius, En Lodewijck Hennepin. Leyden: Pieter vander Aa, 1704. Plate 1; state 3. 5 x 6 5/8. Engraving. Adamson2: 170; DeVolpi: 1; Dow: 854; Eland 101; Greenhill & Mahoney: 11; McKinsey: 2; cf. Seibel1: 49.
A slightly later edition of the Hennepin print, from the first plate, third state.
| Note on Hennepin views |
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| Three different plates were used for the view of Niagara Falls in the various editions of Hennepin's Nouvelle Decouverte, each of which had multiple states. Click here to go to table listing differences of the various plates and states. |
3. Sebastian Leclerc. [Elie Enleve Dans Un Char De Feu.] UC: "Chute de la Riviere de Niagara." Ca. 1700. 6 3/8 x 10 3/8. Etching. Adamson2: 129; Dow: 855; Eland: 131; Kotik: 25; McKinsey: 4; Seibel1: 61.
The second known separate print and third known image of Niagara Falls, preceded only by Hennepin and the de Fer inset (cf. [4]). Hennepin's image appears at right, with Elijah rising towards heaven in a fiery chariot to the left (II Kings: 2). The Falls are greatly heightened and gesticulating onlookers appear small on a large bluff in the foreground. "As in most of Leclerc's compositions, and indeed in many seventeenth-century prints of natural phenomena, Niagara is more the occasion for religious allegory than a focus in and of itself." (McKinsey, p.17)
[Detail]
4. Herman Moll after Nicolas Guerard. "A View of ye Industry of ye Beavers of Canada in making Dams to stop ye Course of a Rivulet, in order to form a great Lake, about w'ch they build their Habitations...." Inset view on map, "A New and Exact map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye Continent of North America." London: H. Moll, [1715]-1732+. Fifth state of seven. Inset: 8 1/4 x 9; map: 40 x 24. Engraving. Hand outline color. Adamson2: 227; DeVolpi: 2; Dow: 859/861; Greenhill & Mahoney: 12; McKinsey: 10; Seibel1: 65.
This inset is based directly on an inset on a wall map of North & South America by Nicolas de Fer, issued in Paris in 1698. The de Fer inset, the second known image of Niagara Falls, was drawn by Nicolas Guerard based on Hennepin's view; Moll's inset is a reversed image of de Fer's inset. The only significant change from Hennepin is the addition of a fourth cascade to match Hennepin's third cascade. At the top of the inset is the note, "The Cataract of Niagara, some make this Water-Fall to be half a League while others reckon it no more than a hundred Fathom."
4ad. Henri A. Chatelain. "Saut ou Chute d'eau de Niagara." Inset on sheet, "Carte Qui Contient La Maniere Dont Se Fait La Chasse Des Boeufs Sauvages Et Des Elans, Le Grand Saut De la Riviere De Niagara, La Danse Du Calumet Avec Sa Description, Et L'Explication des Armoiries De Quelques Sauvages Du Canada." From Atlas Historique. Volume VI. No. 24. P. 94. Amsterdam: Chatelain, 1719. Inset, 4 1/8 x 4 7/8; full sheet, 14 1/2 x 16 3/4. Engraving. Dow: 859; Seibel: 17.
A Hennepin derivative is inset on one of the encyclopedic sheets from Henri Chatelain's Atlas Historique. This sheet concerns certain features of the natives, fauna and topography of North America, including Niagara Falls. The Niagara inset is a very close, and early, copy of Hennepin's view. Indeed, this is likely the closest derivative done of the original Hennepin print, with the landscape and vegetation almost identical. It is quite early as well, being preceded only by DeFer, Moll, and Leclerc. The European onlookers are very similar, though modified in their stances and one extra onlooker is added just in front of Hennepin's four. The only other modification of note is the addition of three sailing ships etched in the distance, cruising the waters of Lake Erie.
[Detail]
5. Henry Popple. "Fall of Niagara." One of four images on a single sheet, together with "Mexico"/"New York"/"Quebec." Amsterdam: Covens & Mortier, ca. 1744. 5 1/4 x 10 5/8. Other image sizes (respectively): 4 3/4 x 10 1/2; 4 3/4 x 10 3/8; 5 1/4 x 10 3/8. Overall plate mark size: 13 x 23 1/4. Engraving. Hand color. Koeman: C&M7:107.
This is a variant issue of an inset from Henry Popple's 1733 "A Map of the British Empire in America," published by Covens & Mortier around 1744. Covens & Mortier issued a seven sheet reduced version of the Popple map, including four sheets of the main geographic rendering in quadrants, a key map, a sheet with the "Principal Fortifications," and this sheet with the four major insets from the original map. The Popple image of Niagara is a derivative of the Hennepin view, with a modified group of onlookers-including a Priest, an Indian and a small dog-, and the addition of large pine trees, a non-existent side-water of the river above the falls, and a coulisse to the left.
6. After Peter Kalm. "A View of the Fall of Niagara." From Gentleman's Magazine. London, February 1751. UL: "Gent. Mag. Feb. 1751." UR: "Page 18 Vol. XXI." 4 x 7 1/4. Engraving. Adamson2: 204; Dow: 867; McKinsey: 13.
A Hennepin derivative with modifications based upon an account by Peter Kalm, a Swedish botanist who visited Niagara Falls in 1750. A letter from Kalm to a friend in Philadelphia, cf. [10] -was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette, September 20, 1750. It was reprinted in Gentleman's Magazine, January 1751, as "A letter from Mr. Kalm, a gentleman of Sweden, now on his travels in America, to his friend in Philadelphia, containing a particular account of the Great Fall of Niagara, September 2, 1750." This engraving appeared in the same magazine one month later. "[Kalm] probably had nothing to do with the making of the picture..." (Severance, p.121) The image of the print is based on the Popple view, with a few modifications made for artistic reasons-such as the addition of three large pine trees on the brink of Goat Island-, and a number of new features that derive from the text of Kalm's letter-including a flock of birds going over the brink of the falls, an Indian ladder down the embankment, two men crossing the river to Goat Island, and the elimination of Hennepin's third cascade.
7. After L. Hennepin. [Indians canoeing near Niagara Falls.] LR: "XXIX." From Johann Fred. Schroter's Algemeine Geschichte der Lander und Volker von America. Halle: Johann Justinus Gebauer, 1752. Volume I. 7 1/2 x 5 1/2. Engraving.
An unusual view from Schroter's mid-eighteenth century work on America, Volume I of which is essentially a translation of P. Lafitua's Moeurs Des Sauvages Ameriquains (Paris: 1724). This print is a direct copy of a print from Lafitua's book, which when published in 1724 was one of the earliest Hennepin derivatives. The subjects of the print are Native Americans, their villages and canoes, with an unusual Hennepin-type Niagara gracing the background. The image of Niagara is quite crude and is reversed from Hennepin, with the third fall on the left. The rocks of Goat Island and along the right side of the Falls are strangely distorted, and the spray below the cataracts looks more like rocks than mist.
8. After Louis Hennepin. "Cataracte de Niagara." From Abbe Antoine Francois Prevost D'Exiles' Histoire Generale des Voyages. Paris: Chez Didot, 1757. 4 3/4 x 5 3/8. Engraving by Chedel.
Prevost's important series of travels, Histoire Generale des Voyages, went through many editions, beginning with the 1746-1789 first edition from which this print comes. The engraving, by Chedel, is a close derivative of Hennepin's image [1, 2]. Chedel eliminated one of Hennepin's four onlookers and he added a small group of spectators on the brink of the Horseshoe Falls to the right. His trees look a bit more like palm trees than Hennepin's correct pine trees, and Chedel also added some boats in the Niagara River above the Falls. With its long run and wide distribution, the prints of Niagara Falls from Prevost's volumes probably had more to do with the spread of the Hennepin prototype of Niagara Falls than the original engraving.
9. After L. Hennepin. "Wasserfall von Niagra." UR: "No. 30." From Abbe Prevost's Allgemeine histoire des reisen zu wasser und lande. Leipzig: Arkstee & Merkus, 1747-1774. Volume 16, 1758. Edited by J.J. Schwabe. 7 x 10 3/8. Engraving. Adamson1: 24; cf. Dow: 871; Eland: 104?; cf. Seibel1: 48. [Illustrated at left]
A modified version of Chedel's engraving after Hennepin [8], with the addition of rocks at the base of the falls and a reversed image. Note that "Niagra" is spelled as "Niagara" in most of the standard print listings, but this appears to be a simple mistake of transcription. Dow has this and the Meer engraving [12] (illustrated above on the right) listed as being by E. Van Herrevelt, who was just one of publishers of the volume that the Meer engraving was issued in. The example of this print in the Erie County & Buffalo Public Library is a variant state, with a different border.
10. After P. Kalm. "The Fall of Niagara in the Province of New York." From The Imperial Magazine. London: J. Scott, 1762. 4 x 7 1/4. Engraving by Richard Bennett.
An almost exact re-engraving of Kalm's [6] "A View of the Fall of Niagara," issued in The Imperial Magazine in accompaniment to a reprinting of Kalm's letter. Like Kalm's original image, this print includes three large pine trees on Goat Island, birds going over the brink of the Falls, two rescuers, and an Indian ladder on Goat Island. In distinction from Kalm, Bennett shows four onlookers at the left instead of Kalm's five, no dog, and only three people on the path by the falls instead of the larger number in earlier view. The text indicates that Kalm's letter was addressed to a Mr. Peter Collinson.
11. G. M. Terrini. "Caduta Di Niagara." From Il Gazzettiere Americana. Livorno: M. Coltellini, 1763. 9 1/2 x 7 1/8. Engraving by G.M. Terrini. Dow: 873; Seibel1: 83.
A variation of Hennepin by way of Popple. The print has Popple's coulisse at the left, large pine trees, a dog, a Priest, and the mistaken extension of the river at the first bend above the Falls. Hennepin's third fall is present, indicating that this print was not influenced by Kalm or Hancock.
12. After L. Hennepin. "Cataracte de Niagara." UR: "Tom. XXI." From Abbe Prevost's Histoire generale des voyages. Hague: Pierre De Hondt (Volumes I-XVIII) and Amsterdam: E. van Harrevelt et D.J. Chauguion (Volumes XIX-XXV), 1747-1780. Volume XXI, 1774. 7 x 10 1/4. Engraving by N.v.d. Meer. Dow: 876; cf. Seibel1:48. [Illustrated above #9, at right.]
A reversed copy of [9] "Wasserfall von Niagra" from another issue of Prevost's Histoire.
13. Richard Wilson after Lt. William Pierie, "From a Drawing taken on the Spot by Lt. Pierie of the R'l. Artillery, 1768." "To the Right Hon'ble. Lady Susan O'Brien, this View of the Cataract of Niagara, with the Country adjacent, is most humbly Inscrib'd by her Ladyship's most obed't. and Obliged h'ble. Serv't. Will'm Pierie. This stupendous Cataract is near a Mile wide, and falls over a perpendicular Rock of 170 Feet high, which interrupts the Passage of the River Niagara for some miles, between the Lakes Erie and Ontario, on the Frontiers of the Province of New York in North America." LC: "Size of the Picture 6'F. by 5'F." London: Richard Wilson, 1774. 16 1/2 x 20 5/8. Engraving by William Byrne. Adamson2: 39; DeVolpi: 3; Dow: 875; cf. McKinsey: 8; Seibel1: 70/94.
Lt. Pierie was a British artilleryman who sketched Niagara Falls in 1768. The sketch was sent to London where Richard Wilson, England's leading landscape artist, painted a canvas based on it. That image was engraved by William Byrne and published by Wilson in 1774, making it only the second published print of Niagara not based on Hennepin. Thomas Davies' 1768 engraving was the first, but the Pierie/Wilson view is a considerably more accurate portrayal. "We may say, in a sense, that Niagara art began with Hennepin; but in its higher sense, it began neither with Hennepin nor Davies, but with Pierie." (Severance, p. 123)
14. Heinrich Fuessli. [Vue du Cataracte de Niagara, au Pais des Iroquois.] [1770+]-ca. 1776. 10 x 14 3/4. Etching. Hand color. Adamson2: 88; McKinsey: 11; Seibel1: 42.
A rare Hennepin derivative that is in the style of the prints from the different editions of Prevost's Histoire [8, 9, 12]. The Indian in the lower left is a direct copy of a figure in Benjamin West's 1770 painting, "The Death of General Wolfe." (Cf. McKinsey, p.24f.) Adamson suggests that it is likely Fuessli copied the figure from the 1776 engraving by William Woollett after West's painting, as the print would have been widely disseminated and thus more likely to have been available for Fuessli to copy from than the painting itself (Adamson1, p.66f.). The print includes a rainbow, a number of birds, including eagles, and several ships upriver of the Falls. Large mountains are etched in the distance. Seibel lists the print as coming from Voyage des Quatre Parties du Monde de M. Henri Vernon, Anglais, about which further information was not found.
14ad. Robert Hancock. "The Waterfall of Niagara-....in North America." London: Robert Sayer, prob. 1751-1770, but by 1775. 9 1/4 x 15 1/4. Engraving. Hand color. Dow: 879.
A "perspective view" of Niagara drawn by Hancock based upon the Popple inset prototype [cf. 5], but with Hennepin's third cascade eliminated and a few other minor changes. This is the rare first state published by Robert Sayer [cf. 21]. This print was the prototype for a whole series of other prints of Niagara issued in various eighteenth century publications [15, 16, 17]. The Sayer & Bennett sales catalogue of 1775 lists this print, so it was issued at least by that date. It is likely that this print was published before Bennett joined Sayer, when the latter was on his own as a printseller from 1751 to 1770.
15. After Robert Hancock. "The great Cataract or Waterfall, of Niagara in North America." UC: "Engraved for Middleton's Complete System of Geography." From Charles Theodore Middleton's A New and Complete System of Geography. London: J. Cooke, 1778-79. Volume II, 1779. 6 3/8 x 10 1/2. Engraving. Dow: 877; Seibel1: 48/64.
A close copy of the Sayer edition of Hancock's perspective view of Niagara, cf. [21].
16. After Robert Hancock. "The most surprising Cataract of Niagara in Canada." UC: "Engraved for Moore's Voyages & Travels." From John Hamilton Moore's A New and Complete Collection of Voyages. London: A. Hogg, 1779. 6 3/8 x 10 3/8. Engraving. Hand color.
An almost exact re-engraving of the Middleton view [15].
17. After Robert Hancock. "The most surprising Cataract of Niagara in Canada." From George Henry Millar's A New and Complete Geography. London: George Henry Millar, 1781. Engraving by Page. 7 3/8 x 11 1/4. Dow: 877; Seibel1: 65.
A reprinting of the same plate used in Moore's Voyages [16], but with parts of the plate re-engraved and a decorative border added.
18. C. Metz. "The Falls of Niagara." From William Frederick Martyn's Geography. London: Harrison & Co., April 1, 1783. 5 x 6 3/4. Engraving by James Heath. DeVolpi: cover; Dow: 877f.; Heath: 1782(5); McKinsey: 9; Seibel1: 49/64.
A reversed image derivative of Kalm's [6] "A View of the Fall of Niagara." It was republished in The Geographical Magazine or New System of Geography (Heath, p.83). The artist is perhaps Conrad Martin Metz.
19. Andrew Ellicott. "View of the Falls of Niagara." UC: "Univ. Asyl. & Col. Mag." In The Universal Asylum, and Columbian Magazine, For June 1790. Vol. IV; No. 6. Philadelphia, June, 1790. Printed by William Young. 3 7/8 x 6 7/8. Engraving by Thackara & Vallance. Dow: 878f.; Seibel1: 31; Stauffer: 3151.
The earliest known picture of Niagara by an American, issued in the Columbian Magazine to accompany Ellicott's letter, dated December 10, 1789, to Dr. Benjamin Rush. This is a very different view than those that came before, and it was based on Ellicott's on-the-spot drawing. The perspective makes the American Falls look as wide as the Horseshoe Falls and also makes both cataracts look much less tall than in earlier prints. The land in the distance is too hilly, but overall this is quite an accurate view.
20. Andrew Ellicott. "View of the Falls of Niagara." UL: "No. VII." UC: "Massa Mag." UR: "Vol. II." From Massachusetts Magazine. Boston: I. Thomas, July 1790. 3 3/4 x 6 7/8. Engraving by S. Hill. Dow: 879; Kotik: 19; Seibel1: 31; Stauffer: 1410.
A direct copy of Ellicott's Columbian Magazine view [19], but with one spectator instead of two. This print appeared just a month after the Philadelphia image and it has the look of being somewhat rushed into print.
21. Robert Hancock. "The Waterfall of Niagara-....in North America." London: Laurie & Whittle, [May 12, 1794]. On wove paper dated 1813. 9 1/4 x 15 1/4. Engraving. Hand color. Adamson2: 95; Dow: 879; Eland: 122; Kotick: 22; Seibel1: 48.
A later printing of the Hancock view of Niagara [cf. 14ad], issued by Laurie & Whittle who acquired the Sayer & Bennett stock.
Prints by Isaac Weld. From Travels Through the States of North America, and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797. London: J. Stockdale, 1799. Adamson2: 212.
26. Isaac Weld. "View of the Horse Shoe Fall of Niagara." From Travels through the States of North America. London: J. Stockdale, 1800. 4 x 6 3/8. Engraving by I. Scott. Cf. Dow: 880; cf. Seibel1: 90.
A reduced version of the first edition print with the same title [23], from the fourth edition of Weld's Travels.
26ad. "An Emblem of America." [London: P. Stampa, 1800]. 12 5/8 x 10. Mezzotint. Hand color. Adamson: 172; McKinsey: Fig. 46.
A rare print which shows Columbia mourning the loss of George Washington, issued shortly after his death, December 1799. Illustrating the theme of the title of the print, "An Emblem of America," Columbia is shown wearing a feather, holding an American flag (emblazoned with an eagle), while the background scene shows Niagara Falls. This latter is the best evidence possible of how established Niagara Falls had become as the icon of America by 1800. As Jeremy Adamson states in his catalogue, Niagara. Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697-1901, "the Falls represents the American land where Columbia will act out her destiny. Not just a unique natural curiosity, it is now a symbol for a unique polity." (p. 86)
The image is essentially a simplified version of the Popple derivative of the Hennepin view [5], with its large, leaning pine trees. The artist also incorporated a spear-fishing Indian, probably from Isaac Weld's "View of the Horse-Shoe Fall of Niagara" [23]. This demonstrates that while the artist had access to more accurate images than the Hennepin view, the power of this prototype was so powerful that it was this century old image which fit into this symbolic work on America.
27. After William Pierie/Richard Wilson. "Total Anblick des Niagara Falls." [1774+]-ca. 1800. 3 3/4 x 5 5/8. Engraving by J. Schumann. Hand color. Adamson1: 34; Dow 876; Seibel1: 78.
A reduced version of the Pierie/Wilson image [13]. This print is on early wove paper. The engraver is possibly Johann Gottlab Schumann, a late eighteenth and early nineteenth century engraver who spent part of his life in London, where he might have seen the Pierie/Wilson print.
28. C. Metz. "The Falls of Niagara in Canada." Reprint, [1783+]-1800+. 5 7/8 x 7 5/8. Engraving by James Heath. Cf. Heath: 1782(5); Kotik: 28.
A reprint of Metz's image first issued in 1783 [18], with an engraved border added. This print was probably published around 1800, perhaps in The Geographical Magazine or New System of Geography. (Heath, p.83)
[ Index | 1801 to 1810 ]
[ Impressions of Niagara ]
![2. After Louis Hennepin. [Chute d'eau de Niagara.]](images/pnia2.jpg){kind=link}
![7. After L. Hennepin. [Indians canoeing near Niagara Falls.]](images/pnia7.jpg){kind=link}
