One of its highlights is a watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper version, laid down on canvas, of the painted panoramas that were so popular pre-photography in the late-18th/early-19th century. Large canvases painted with a continuous scene were created to be unfolded around the circular walls of a rotunda, giving viewers the impression they were standing within the landscape.
This particular example is a view of Paris painted on several sheets of paper by Pierre Prévost (1764-1823), a landscape designer who became one of the most important French representatives of the genre. It is thought to be a preparatory study for a finished canvas.
Measuring almost 16ft (5m) in length, it depicts the city from the viewpoint of the Pavillon de Flore showing the river and its quays and detailed studies of buildings such as the Louvre, the Pont des Arts, and in the background, Notre Dame to one side and the hills of Montmartre to the other.
Certain details in the painting, such as the unfinished rue de Rivoli, allow it to be dated to 1810-12. The estimate is €100,000-150,000.
