LA NOUVELLE PORTE ST. HONORÃ
1677â1703
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council
Accession Number
1921-6-533-21
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Adam Perelle’s “La Nouvelle Porte St. Honoré” captures a pivotal moment in Paris’s transformation during the reign of Louis XIV. Created between 1677 and 1703, this etching records the newly rebuilt gate that marked the western edge of the city’s expanding. Perelle, a leading French topographical printmaker of the Baroque era, specialized in precise architectural views that celebrated the grandeur of the French capital and its royal projects. Prints like this one played an essential role in documenting urban change before photography. By circulating widely among collectors and scholars, they ...