French technical drawings re Newcomen atmospheric engine erected at Fresnes

Made:
1737

[French technical drawings re Newcomen atmospheric engine erected at Fresnes, near Conde in northern France, 1737. 3 sheets, ink and colour wash. The engine at Fresnes has "some claim to distinction, as it was chosen by the celebrated architect Bernard Forest de Belidor for illustration and description in his well-known work Architecture Hydraulique (1737)" [H.W. Dickinson, A short history of the steam engine, 1938], after which engravings these three drawings were probably executed. With ink sketch re same, 23 x 16.5cm, and 'Memoire pour l'intelligence de la machine a feu...', 7p. ms., on 2 leaves, each 32 x 40cm folded to 32 x 20cm. With also another ink and colour wash drawing, 33.5 x 26cm, of an unidentified atmospheric engine, slightly different from the Fresnes design]

Details

Category:
Archive
Object Number:
1992-540
type:
technical drawings
credit:
Sotheby Parke Bernet and Co