LA NOUVELLE PORTE ST. HONORÉ
1677–1703
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
Rights
Public Domain
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 helped shape a shared visual record of Paris’s modernization. The crisp lines and measured perspective typical of Perelle’s work invite viewers to appreciate both the engineering of the gate and the ordered beauty of seventeenth-century city planning. Acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum through its Advisory Council, the print now offers contemporary audiences a window into the historic streets of Paris and the enduring power of graphic art to preserve memory.