Details
No Description
Provenance
Mrs. Ethelbert Warfield, Oyster Bay, Long Island
This and the following four lots are the work of an engineer named Potier who, according to inscriptions on several sheets, was also responsible for designing or building the structures he recorded. He documents forts, a sugar plantation and at least one harbour on the
northwestern coast of Santo Domingo, otherwise known as the Dominican Republica, and on the Isle of Tortue, Tortuga, to the north. This
territory, having been discovered by Columbus in December 1492, belonged to Spain until the end of the 17th Century when, after bitter battles involving the French, Dutch and English, France was granted possession in the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697.
The Dominican Republic, in its natural resources and bountiful agriculture, was one of the richest of France's colonies, and contributed to that country's great economic strength in the 18th Century. The colonial government built up a profitable and diversified economy based on sugar and indigo, and also exploited the island's position as a naval base. Defensive strategy was important not only against European powers with possessions in the New World, but also to protect the developing harbours and capital of Port de Paix. At
mid-century, France was engaged in the Seven Years War (1756-1763).
It is precisely in this period that Potier made his drawings. His was a double role: as engineer in the colonial capital, he had designed or supervised fortifications. As draughtsman, he recorded not only his professional accomplishments, but the appearance of the region as well. Thus, his drawings form a unique documentary.
In one of the earliest texts about the colony, Moreau de Saint-Mery's Description de la Partie Française de l'Isle Saint Dominigue, written in 1773, the two most important figures are Potier and Louis-Roger Charlevoix de Villiers, sous-ingenieur at Saint Dominique from 1746, and later Ingenieur and Captaine. Moreau de Saint-Mery discusses his building a small fort near Port de Paix which was begun in 1756, a date that appears in two of the drawings. Another, Grand-Fort, was restored in 1757. One of Potier's drawings is a view of an habitation du sucre, a sugar plantation featuring the master's residence, a row of slave cabins, fields of cane, the mill and sugar-house. One of the buildings carries the date of 1757. Sugar was a staple crop and plantations were situated to take advantage of the ready water from streams and rivers. Here, engineers such as Potier were important not only in building hydraulic powered mills, but in controlling water for irrigation and drainage as well
This and the following four lots are the work of an engineer named Potier who, according to inscriptions on several sheets, was also responsible for designing or building the structures he recorded. He documents forts, a sugar plantation and at least one harbour on the
northwestern coast of Santo Domingo, otherwise known as the Dominican Republica, and on the Isle of Tortue, Tortuga, to the north. This
territory, having been discovered by Columbus in December 1492, belonged to Spain until the end of the 17th Century when, after bitter battles involving the French, Dutch and English, France was granted possession in the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697.
The Dominican Republic, in its natural resources and bountiful agriculture, was one of the richest of France's colonies, and contributed to that country's great economic strength in the 18th Century. The colonial government built up a profitable and diversified economy based on sugar and indigo, and also exploited the island's position as a naval base. Defensive strategy was important not only against European powers with possessions in the New World, but also to protect the developing harbours and capital of Port de Paix. At
mid-century, France was engaged in the Seven Years War (1756-1763).
It is precisely in this period that Potier made his drawings. His was a double role: as engineer in the colonial capital, he had designed or supervised fortifications. As draughtsman, he recorded not only his professional accomplishments, but the appearance of the region as well. Thus, his drawings form a unique documentary.
In one of the earliest texts about the colony, Moreau de Saint-Mery's Description de la Partie Française de l'Isle Saint Dominigue, written in 1773, the two most important figures are Potier and Louis-Roger Charlevoix de Villiers, sous-ingenieur at Saint Dominique from 1746, and later Ingenieur and Captaine. Moreau de Saint-Mery discusses his building a small fort near Port de Paix which was begun in 1756, a date that appears in two of the drawings. Another, Grand-Fort, was restored in 1757. One of Potier's drawings is a view of an habitation du sucre, a sugar plantation featuring the master's residence, a row of slave cabins, fields of cane, the mill and sugar-house. One of the buildings carries the date of 1757. Sugar was a staple crop and plantations were situated to take advantage of the ready water from streams and rivers. Here, engineers such as Potier were important not only in building hydraulic powered mills, but in controlling water for irrigation and drainage as well