#M57
Ca. 1810s
Pen and wash watercolour on paper ca. 12x14,5 cm (4 ½ x 5 ¾ in). Mounted on a period album leaf ca. 19x21,5 cm (7 ¼ x 8 ½ in), captioned in pencil on the mount. The mount with a small tear on the lower margin not affecting the image, otherwise a very good watercolour.
Attractive 19th-century pen and wash watercolour view of Luis de Camoes Grotto in Macao, after the aquatint from Thomas and William Daniell’s classical illustrated book “A Picturesque Voyage to India by the Way of China” (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1810). Drawing, in a detailed and accurate manner, shows the cave where national Portugues poet Luis de Camões (ca. 1524 or 1525 - 1580) allegedly wrote a part of his masterpiece “Os Lusiadas.” The area around the cave was a private property, leased to the Brtish East India Company in the 18th century; a “summer house” was built above the cave in the early 19th century. In 1885 the grounds were sold to the Government of Macao and became a public park, the bronze bust to Luis de Camões was installed in the cave the same year. Overall a nice early watercolour view of Macao.
