1930 Varin View of the First Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois

This is a 1930 Raoul Varin aquatint view of the First Baptist Church at the corner of Washington and South LaSalle Streets in Chicago, Illinois, as it appeared in 1857. The view looks southwest over Chicago from the top of the courthouse. The First Baptist Church dominates the foreground, while individual buildings and trees line South LaSalle Street. Ship masts are visible along the Chicago River. Both the courthouse and the First Baptist Church burned during the Great Chicago Fire of October 8-10, 1871.

Source Print

Varin likely based this work on Alexander Hesler's 1858 Panorama of Chicago. The perspective of the First Baptist Church matches Hessler's panorama, down to the inclusion of the southwest corner of the Courthouse Grounds. Varin embellished the view by adding pedestrians on the sidewalks and a horse and buggy on Washington Street.

Aquatint

Aquatint is a printmaking technique that has been used since the 18th century. In aquatint, the artist creates an image by marking on the surface of a copper or zinc plate. The marks hold the ink, which is then transferred to paper when the plate is passed through a printing press. One of the innovations of the aquatint process was the ability to create tonal variation depending on how the image was etched onto the printing plate.

Publication History and Census

This view was created by Raoul Varin and published by A. Ackermann and Son in Chicago in 1930. Varin produced a series of thirty-one views of Chicago between 1926 and 1932, each issued in a limited edition of 125 prints. The present print is hand-numbered in the lower-left corner and is number 21 of 125, making it an early impression in the print run. It is signed by Varin on the lower right. Today, Varin's prints are known to have suffered from poor framing and are generally not in the best condition. The presently offered print, however, is stunning. We are aware of one other example of this view in private hands.