Old book illustrations wordshop

Christian Rauch, the greatest sculptor in Germany, the artist with grandiose ideas who could have made the gigantic dream of Dinocrates come true, has just died in Dresden, laden with years and glory.
setting out from the lower ranks of society, he rose, through hard work and genius, to the highest dignities. He was professor of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and knight of the Order of the Prussian Red Eagle when death overtook him. …Read more »

Jacques Fosse, merchant in Beaucaire, was gifted with one of those vigorous natures and powerful constitutions to which danger is a spur, and it is therefore not surprising that Fosse has become the major rescuer of southern France and of all places where there’s been dangers to be faced and lives to be saved.
Fosse was ten years old when, for the first time, he gave …Read more »

The latest news from Australia let us know of the loss, with all hands, of the english ship Dunbar, which ran aground one mile away from Port Jackson, in the night of 20th to 21st of August 1857, during a hurricane that had been lasting since the 18th.
Here are some details about this shipwreck, from which only one crew member of the Dunbar escaped, out of one hundred and twenty people, including both crew and passengers, who were on board at the time of the disaster.
The Dunbar, 1,321 tons, had left Plymouth under Captain …Read more »

We know typhoons are impetuous winds that blow in several directions at the same time and cause terrible disturbances, particularly at sea, where it becomes impossible to steer. The Greek word tuphein, which means burn, ignite, is an image of the effects generated by typhoons, whose name derives from the greek verb.
A typhoon violently hit Caste-to-Peak Bay on the night of 30 September to 1 October. The inland port of Macao has been …Read more »

In the daytime, Europeans stay inside their houses: the sun, whose rays heat up the reddish volcanic dust of the alleys, doesn’t allow them to go for walks. When business calls them to the malaysian city, they get in their palanquin, a long and narrow carriage in which two people only can sit, opposite one another. The palanquin is hitched up to a small persian horse, led by a Hindu who walks, runs or gallops in front or at the side of the carriage. In the evening, when the sun has disappeared from the horizon and the sea breeze rises, Europeans go for rides on horses or in palanquins, on an avenue that runs along the bay or on roads that lead, through various places, to the inner island.
 
Extract from L’Illustration, N° 772 on 12 December 1857.

…Designed in memory of the wedding of grand Duke Michael of Russia with Princess Cecilia of Baden.
The city of Karlsruhe has recently given commission for a piece of art which we would be sorry not to reproduce here. The work is now kept in St. Petersburg; it is a tribute from the city to Princess Olga Feodorovna, Princess Cecilia of Baden, The Grand Duke’s sister, on the occasion of her wedding to Prince Michael of Russia, brother of Emperor Alexander. This composition, very much in the German taste, is the work of two distinguished artists: Mr. Bayer, who did the plaster model, and Mr. Bauer, who made the sculpture, with great skill in the rendering of the various shapes.
Here is the subject: a rider, dressed as a knight of the Middle Ages, rides his palfrey, taking his fiancee with him, under the protection of two angels who accompany him on each side. These words by the psalmist give this kind of kidnapping its …Read more »