Morro y entrada del puerto de la Habana from "Isla de Cuba." First edition.

Habana : Lit. de L. Marquier, 1848.. Handcolored lithograph. Image 24 x 28 cm. Matted and framed. Sheet size likely 35 x 26 cm. Fresh appearing.Gallery sticker verso from Cisneros Gallery, 1316 Madison Ave., NY, NY.OCLC Number: 1038752973Notes: Contiene: 1. Vista de la Habana, tomada desde la entrada del puerto (no. 1).-2. Morro y entrada del puerto de la Habana.-3. Habana, 1a. vista tomada desde Casa Blanca.-4. Habana, 2a. vista tomada desde Casa Blanca.-5. Habana, 3a. vista tomada desde Casa.Description: 30 grabados ; 35 x 26 cm.From the Cuban period of the painter and lithographer from Bordeaux Frédéric Mialhe, who published the first album of lithographical views of the island (1839-1842). These « picturesque » plates are the first reproductions of landscapes and « costumbrista » scenes of any importance in Cuba. In the second half of the 19th century, with the disappeareance of the picturesque albums, lithography turns itself towards the tobacco sector.Frédéric Mialhe arrived in Cuba in 1838 under contract to the printers Real Sociedad Patriótica to record views of the island. Enamored by the richness and exoticism that surrounded him, Mialhe remained in Cuba to produce further work; he also taught drawing at the Liceo Literario y Artístico in Havana. The artist returned to France in 1854.Felipe Poey, the founder of the Museum of Natural History in Havana, often accompanied Mialhe on his painting excursions into the Cuban hinterland and remarked that: "Mialhe carried along a blank book and his admirable pencil, which, they say, drew by itself, though probably helped by Mialhe's fingers and thumb".Mailhe is best known for his series of lithographs Isla de Cuba, Isla de Cuba Pintoresca and Viaje pintoresco por la Isla de Cuba. These magnificent albums of lithographs depicted daily life in Cuba and its capital in the mid-19th century.Refs: Emilio Cueto, Mialhe's Colonial Cuba (Miami, 1994), pp. 1-7, 73-77; Palau 5421, and cf.167989; cf. Sabin 17748 (for the other pirated edition with only 26 plates); cf. G. Sánchez. "Federico Mialhe: diseño biográfico y señalamientos para la estimación de su obra" in Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional (La Habana), año 66, nº 2, 1975.