This large-Format  copper engraving from 18th century depicts a bustling harbor in St. Petersburg with the Mikhailovsky Palace in the background, its quays lined with multi-masted sailing ships. Numerous individual figures are shown on the cobbled square by the harbor. It was engraved by famous etcher of the French Rococo Jacques-Philippe Le Bas (1707 - 1783 in Paris) after the painting by  Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (French, Metz 1734–1781 Saint-Denis-du-Port).

Le Bas was the most popular and sought-after French engraver. A century after Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), Le Bas rediscovered the drypoint technique and perfected it. In 1771, he became a member of the Académie royale (now the Académie des Beaux-Arts), and in 1782, Louis XVI bestowed upon him the title of Royal Engraver. The well-known portrait of Le Bas was engraved by his pupil Charles-Étienne Gaucher (1741–1804), who also made a name for himself as a portraitist in France. Le Bas died on April 14, 1783, in Paris.

Literature: Bénézit, Thieme/Becker and other lexicons.

Inscription: in French under image lower left : Peint d'apres Nature par le Prince peintre du Roi; in the middle: vie de St.Petersbourg.Dediée a l'Imperateice Catherine II Souverine de routes Les Russiea; lower right: Gravé par J.P. Le Bas 1778.

Technigue: etching on paper, matted nd original gilt frame.

Mesurements: (only image 73 x 53 cm), (with folders 74 x 55 cm ),matted and  framed (94,5 x 74,5 cm). 

Condition: very good.