Basel – Carl Martin, ca. 1840
€650
BASEL ON THE RHINE, BEFORE NINETEENTH-CENTURY URBAN DEVELOPMENT
“Basel.” Lithograph published by Carl Martin in Berlin, ca. 1840. With original hand colouring. Size (image) 26.2 x 37.4 cm (paper: 36.6 x 48.4 cm).
Picturesque river view of Basel, seen across the Rhine, with the historic heart of Grossbasel on the left and the distinctive silhouette of the Minster in the centre. In the distance the old Mittlere Brücke spans the river; Kleinbasel lies on the opposite bank to the right. Along the riverbank women do their washing, while a small fishing boat on the water and a raft of logs animate the scene.
Through the Dutch scholar Erasmus, who taught at the university from 1521 to 1529, the city became a centre of humanism and of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. The Counter-Reformation brought skilled workmen as refugees from other parts of Europe to Basel, and by the eighteenth century political power rested in the hands of the guilds. In 1831 the rural part of the canton rose in revolt and proclaimed its independence the following year; since 1833 there has been a half-canton of Basel-Landschaft and a half-canton of Basel-Stadt.
Around 1840–1850 Basel was still largely recognisable as a historic Rhine city, retaining its medieval and early modern fabric, its churches, its compact built form, and just a single permanent Rhine bridge. At the same time, Basel stood on the threshold of far-reaching modernisation. The Rhine remained an important artery for traffic and trade, while the arrival of the railway from 1844 onward linked the city more closely with France, Germany, and the rest of Switzerland. A few decades later, industrialisation and urban expansion would radically transform the character of Basel. The medieval city walls were largely demolished from 1859 onward, making way for the modern nineteenth-century urban development that would reshape the city. But that moment had not yet come when this view was made.
Price: Euro 650,-
