[French Guiana]: [de Saint-Quentin, Jean Louis Marie Hippolyte]:

$35,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

[SKETCHBOOK OF THIRTY-FIVE ORIGINAL INK AND WATERCOLOR ILLUSTRATIONS AND TEN PENCIL SKETCHES OF MID-19th-CENTURY FRENCH GUIANA, INCLUDING LANDSCAPES OF CAYENNE, KOUROU, MACOURIA, AND THE OYAPOCK ... A volume of exceptionally detailed and accomplished ink and watercolor illustrations of landscapes and animal life in French Guiana and its environs in the 1850s, as well as landscapes of the West Indies from the same period. These illustrations provide excellent representations of the people and places of Cayenne and the surrounding region, showing streetscapes, canal scenes, military establishments, residential neighborhoods, homes, the flora, fauna, insects, and inhabitants of the region. Several show men, women, and children of African descent at work and at rest. At least two of these images are dated 1840, eight years before the end of slavery in French Guiana, and likely depict enslaved men and women.This volume appears to have been created by Jean Louis Marie Hippolyte de Saint-Quentin (1814-1902), who was the primary assessor of real estate for French Guiana and a valued advisor to successive governors of the colony. In gratitude for his services, in 1869 he was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor – the highest decoration that France can bestow on one of its citizens. In addition to his abilities as a government administrator, Saint-Quentin was also an artist, noted for his jailhouse portrait of D'Chimbo, a famous Guianese bandit – created just prior to D'Chimbo's execu

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