Cazabon, M. J.
Views of Trinidad
£10,080
Auction: 18 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
Paris: Lemercier, 1851. First edition, oblong folio (35.5 x 52cm), 18 lithographed plates, list of subscribers with 134 names, black cloth, joints a little rubbed, some slight chipping to edges of tissue guards and title-page, minor soiling to title-page, some minor marginal markings to plates with a scuff to the upper margin of plate 3 [Abbey Travel 696]
Footnote
Michel-Jean Cazabon (1813–1888) was Trinidad’s first internationally recognized artist. His work captures the landscapes, people, and everyday life in 19th-century Trinidad. Born to French-Martinican parents, Cazabon was of mixed European and African heritage. It is often theorised that he showed a particular interest in portraying Black and non-European residents of Trinidad, perhaps due to a stronger personal connection with them than with the island’s European population.
Cazabon's family owned a prosperous sugar plantation, affording him a privileged upbringing. At the age of 13, he was sent to England to study at St. Edmund’s College in Ware. He later began medical studies in Paris but eventually shifted his focus to art, studying under the painter Paul Delaroche. Supported by his family's wealth, he settled in Paris, where he pursued his artistic career.
In 1845, Cazabon visited Trinidad, returning to Paris in 1851 to publish a collection of 18 lithographs based on his observations. He returned permanently to Trinidad with his family in 1852. His second lithographic series, Album of Trinidad, was published in 1857, followed by Album of Demerara in 1860.