Israël Silvestre. View of the Bastille in Paris, from the side of the old Porte Saint-Antoine / Etching, before 1655.

Artist: Israël Silvestre (French, 1621–1691)
Title: Vue de la Bastille de Paris, côté de l’ancienne porte Saint Antoine
Date: Before 1655
Media/Technique: Copperplate etching (eau-forte) on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Sheet 97 × 196 mm; border 76 × 187 mm

Inscription:

Numbered “7.” in lower right corner.
Below the image, in French (poem):
“Pendant que le beau monde au long de ces murailles,
Faict valoir son credit a la faveur du cours
De pauvres malheureux resuent leurs funerailles
Dans le triste seiour de ces obscures Tours.”
— Translation:
“While the fashionable world, along these walls,
Makes its influence felt through favour at court,
Poor wretches receive their funerals
In the sorrowful dwelling of these dark towers.”

Subjects: Urban landscape (paysage urbain); Bastille fortress; bridge; banks of the Seine; figures; boats
Genre: Architectural view (vue d’architecture)
Description: Panoramic view of the Bastille fortress in Paris, seen from the side of the former Porte Saint-Antoine. At left, the bridge with arched spans leads to adjoining houses and a church with a tower. In the foreground, figures and small boats appear along the banks of the Seine. To the right, the massive cylindrical towers of the Bastille rise above its fortified walls. The accompanying verse contrasts the worldly society promenading outside the walls with the misfortunes of prisoners confined within.
Reference: (1) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris (Paris Musées Collections), Numéro d’inventaire: G.227. (2) Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie: BnF ark:/12148/btv1b532109834.
Bibliography: Faucheux, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes d’Israël Silvestre, 48.7; Babelon, Catalogue de l’œuvre d’Israël Silvestre, 38.
Note: Identified as the 1st state by Faucheux and Babelon. The number “7” indicates its place in Silvestre’s early series of Vues de Paris (Views of Paris), issued before 1655. These small-format topographical etchings were first sold as suites and later often bound into albums of Parisian views.