Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 123

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(KENTUCKY.) Courtius, artist. Klyn Loretten in Noord-America / Petit-Lorette etats unis de L'amerique / Little Loretto, Kentucky. Engraving, 11¾ x 14¾ inches; folds and light creasing, small repairs to top and bottom margins. [Belgium], circa 1812
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Additional Details

First state, with artist's name given. A view of the compound built by the Sisters of Loretto, an order of Catholic nuns founded in central Kentucky--one of the first religious communities for women in the United States. The palm trees and alpine mountain range are fictional, but the general plan of the compound's rail fences, log cabins and farm fields is apparently accurate. The noted Belgian missionary Father Charles Nerinckx (1761-1824) founded the order in 1812, designed the compound, and helped construct the buildings.

Breitenbach, "Little Loretto, Kentucky" in American Printmaking Before 1876, page 51; Anna C. Minogue, "Loretto: Annals of the Century," pages 37-40. Only one example of either state found at auction since 1907, at a Swann sale, 12 April 2018, lot 113.

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