GLADDING HENRY C after Topographic Picture of the Head of Na

Sale 2555 - Lot 379

Unsold

Estimate: $ 100 - $ 150

GLADDING, HENRY C., after. Topographic Picture of the Head of Navigation, Providence, R.I. Lithographed view of nineteenth-century commercial Providence after a drawing prepared using an obscure method of perspective drafting. 22 1/2x28 1/2 inches sheet size, wide margins; surface soiling, several closed edge tears. [Providence, early 20th century]

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Additional Details

"The original drawing for this etching was made by Mr. Henry C. Gladding, a gentleman 76 years of age, an amateur, by use of an apparatus invented by him and known as a Topograph. Previous experience is not essential in order to use the Topograph, and by means of it results are obtained even more exact geometrically than by Photography. No claims are made for the Topograph to shading."

"As an autobiography is supposed to portray the spirit and characteristic features of a writer, we trust a few lines concerning the pictures in this book will be in order. The artistic work on all the pictures, except the half-tones, was the work of the writer. The sketching and drawing were done with the aid of an instrument invented and patented by the writer. The instrument is a very ingenious device for measuring all objects in a landscape, or any object you wish to portray. It is somewhat like the pantagraph. We call it a Locograph, because with it anyone can locate, or draw on paper, or in his picture, all objects in the scene in exact proportion, with any artistic skill... this instrument has nothing to do with the shading; that wholly depends on the skill of the artist... - Uncle Henry." (Henry Coggeshall Gladding, The Gladding Book: being an Historical Record and Genealogical Chart of the Gladding Family, 1901, pages 129-132.