1776 Habermann View of New York during the Great Fire of 1776

A remarkable 1776 Franz Habermann vue d'optique or Lantern Print offering a European artist's conception of the Great New York Fire of 1776. The view depicts parts of downtown New York, near Broadway, the original Stock Exchange, the original Kings College, and Trinity Church, fully engulfed in flames. British soldiers, dressed in their signature red coats are savagely beating the city's panicked inhabitants while African slaves take advantage of the opportunity to loot the blazing buildings.

The Great Fire of 1776

A contemporary witness described the fire:

'… at a little past midnight, September 21, 1776, a fire broke out in a low drinking-place and brothel -a wooden building on the wharf, near White-hall Slip. The wind was brisk from the southwest, and the flames spread rapidly, unchecked, for there were few inhabitants in the city. every building between White-hall and Broad streets up to Beaver Street was consumed, when the wind veered to the southeast and drove the flames towards Broadway. The buildings on each side of Beaver Street to the Bowling Green were burned. The fire crossed Broadway and swept all the buildings on each side as far as Exchange Street, and on the west side to Partition (Fulton) Street, destroying Trinity Church. Every building westward towards the Hudson River perished.'

The fire broke out as American Revolutionary forces, under George Washington, and British marines, under Lord Howe, fought for control of the strategically important harbor. The conflagration lasted two days and destroyed nearly 500 buildings, at the time about one third of the city. Both sides immediately accused the other of starting the fire intentionally, and indeed, when it became apparent that wresting control of New York harbor from the entrenched British was unlikely, the Revolutionary leaders did discuss burning the city to the ground, though supposedly the plan was abandoned. Nonetheless, the ramifications were significant, with the British using the fire as an excuse to maintain martial law over the city until finally expelled in 1783.

Publication History and Census

This print was originally issued as a vue d'optique or lantern print. This type of print is meant to be projected and seen through an optic device, consequently the title, top center, is rendered as a mirror image. For this printing, French and German text decrying the fire as an act of revolutionary and slave aggression against rightful British hegemony, has been added to the base of the map. It was drawn by the German engraver Franz Xaver Habermann and published in 1776 by L'Academie Imperiale d'Empire des Arts Libereaux, in Augsburg, Germany, as part of a collection of views entitled Collection des Prospects. This view is well represented in institutional collections worldwide and appears on the private market from time to time.