View on the Pont Neuf at Paris

Henry William Bunbury

View on the Pont Neuf at Paris

London, John Harris Oct 1^st 1771

Etching

470 x 620 mm

Vertical creases at centre, and marginal nicks and tears

£550

A large and rare Bunbury.

Satire on Parisian street-life: on the Pont Neuf various street-traders advertise their business. On the left, a ‘dog-barber’ with a sign reading, “Aux Quarante Lions St. Louis / Decrottte a l’Anglaise et Tond des Chiens Proprement. / Allons Messeigneurs Allons.”; the dog on his lap, as yet untrimmed, barks at an elegantly clipped dog. Behind them a lemonade seller whose sign reads, “A La Renomme Bonne / Limonade Questqui Veut Boire”. A chocolate seller with a large queue carrying a chocolate pot and a tray of cups with a parasol held over his head walks towrads the right. In the background, a fat woman holding a large basket on her back talks to a sentry, beside whom a dog defecates. Further to the right, an elegant lawyer walks towards the left ignoring those he passes; he carries a muff and, under his arm, a parasol. Behind him a coach driver, holding a very large muff and with elaborate curls protruding from his hat, is having his boots cleaned by a shoe-black whose sign reads, “Au Grand Monarque / Lebrillant va en Ville et Decrotte Joliment”. On the right, a hairdresser with an elaborate wig waks towards the left with muff hanging around his neck and holding his curling tongs in one hand and a pot in the other; a smaller pair of tongs, or scissors, is tucked into the front of his coat