Pierre Escuyer
(1749 Geneva–1834)
View of the Fountain of Amphion near Evian, seen from the end of the Pré. Pre. Escuyer made it in Geneva.
Color, oblong format, copper engraving, 26.5 × 42 cm.
Escuyer followed in his father’s career and devoted himself to engraving. He produced mainly views of Geneva, which are of great documentary value. He engraved title pages for various books, as well as certificates, diplomas, and proclamations. In addition, he produced illustrations for the following books: An elementary treatise on perspective, published in 1824; Picturesque Atlas of Geneva (…), of which the first part, Geneva, ancient and modern (1822), contains 20 plates, followed in the same year by a second part with the same number of plates; The title table (…) of different coins by H. Darier, Geneva, 1807; and the 15 plates accompanying Louis Jurine’s memoirs on the fishes of Lake Geneva. Escuyer also left us large-format views showing Geneva and the lakeshore. Fountain of Evian-les-Bains.

OHANN JAKOB BIEDERMANN
(Winterthur 1763 – 1830 Zurich)
(View of the City of Basel).
Colour outline etching. 39.4 x 58.9 cm.
In 1795, Biedermann succeeded in finding a patron in the person of Albrecht Niklaus Effinger von Wildegg, who granted him several loans so that he could independently publish two series of the principal towns of the Swiss Confederation of the time as coloured outline etchings. By 1796, some of the plates had already been completed; they were issued in two series of 15 sheets each, in formats of 29 x 43 cm and 39 x 59 cm. However, the extremely difficult period during the French invasion and the political upheaval in Switzerland resulted in his insolvency at the end of 1798. He had to hand over all thirty finished copper plates as collateral to Effinger von Wildegg. The sales rights passed to the publisher Birmann and Huber in Basel, who, in a later and calmer period, benefited from strong demand and from 1823 published the sought-after sheets by Biedermann in large numbers under the imprint “à Basle chez Birmann & Huber,” later also “Birmann & Fils”. Since the sheets were highly decorative and were often used by their owners as wall decoration, and therefore faded, only a small number survive in the original colouring. Superb period colouring. Trimmed to the image.