John Bachmann

United States Capitol and City of Washington D.C.

41 x 32 inches

A large-scale lithograph in original hand colour; drawn on stone by John Bachmann and published by Williams, Stevens and Williams on Broadway, New York in 1854.

John Bachmann (1814-96) was a Swiss born artist and lithographer who became synonymous with a series of extraordinary bird's eye views of American cities. His first major commission was a view of New York looking south towards the Battery. This achieved great acclaim and soon he had embarked upon a series of topographical studies that would cover New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Havana and Washington DC. Bachmann never returned to Europe to live and from the 1850s onwards made Jersey City his home.

This scarce view of Washington DC looks across the famous Capitol towards thew Mall and the Potomac River in the background. Although building work began in 1793, it was only in the 1850s that the famous dome was added to the Capitol building so this image either anticipates its construction or celebrates its completion.