After Sylvie Gatier, Plan of Honfleur, Éditions Artga

Honfleur stands on the Seine estuary in Normandy, opposite Le Havre. Its Vieux Bassin was built on Colbert’s orders from 1681, and Champlain sailed from the port in 1608 to found Quebec. Éditions Artga of Paris also published pictorial plans of the Marais by the architect Félix Gatier, one of them drawn with Sylvie Gatier in 1985.

The old town is drawn street by street in a raised bird’s-eye view, with roofs, chimneys and windows picked out in fine line. The Vieux Bassin and the Lieutenance sit at the centre. Sainte-Catherine and its detached bell tower lie to the right, and the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce stands on its wooded hill in the top corner. A numbered key lists the principal monuments, and a border of knotted rope, chain and anchors runs round the sheet. Lower left are Baudelaire’s words: “Honfleur a toujours été le plus cher de mes rêves”.

Printed in dark blue on cream paper. The draughtsman’s signature, ‘Sylvie Gatier del.’, is printed lower right. Imprint lower left ‘Editions ARTGA, 12 rue Wilhem 75016 Paris’, and lower right ‘Modèle déposé’ and ‘Reproduction même partielle interdite’. In a slim silvered aluminium frame.