Broadway and New York City Hall

The artwork

Below, on either side of the street, pigs wander among carriages and passersby: in 1819 they roamed freely along Broadway, and the Swedish baron who drew this view had seen them knock over elegant ladies. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, with a handmade frame.

Axel Klinckowström, a Swedish baron and naval officer, arrived in the United States in 1818 on a specific mission: to study American steamboats and determine whether they could serve his country's fleet. He stayed until 1820 and sent home twenty-five illustrated letters. He protested the pigs left free in the streets, which he considered a health hazard. The pigs remained: in 1842, while walking along Broadway, Charles Dickens saw two trot behind a carriage, "two portly sows," two well-fed sows.

The view looks north from St. Paul's Chapel, a fluted column of which can be seen on the left, to City Hall, the municipal building constructed between 1803 and 1811 based on a design by Joseph François Mangin and John McComb Jr. Klinckowström drew a cross on the dome that was never actually there: it held a statue of Justice. Below runs the Swedish title, "Brodway-gatan och Rådhuset i Newyork". The aquatint is by Carl Fredrik Akrell, for the atlas that accompanied the Bref om de Förenta Staterna, the letters printed in Stockholm in 1824; the copy we reproduce belongs to the David Rumsey Map Collection.

For anyone who left their heart in Manhattan, it is the perfect gift, to hang in an entryway or next to a bookcase. And the pigs of Broadway, below, are in no hurry to clear the street.

Unique quality materials

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm
With frame: 31 x 44 cm
Material: artwork printed on the finest handmade Amalfi paper with deckle edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass