View of Bethlehem on the Lehigh

Description

Before sunup on July 25, Maximilian and Bodmer set out for Bethlehem, at that time a settlement of about a thousand persons located on the stage line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. On the evening of his arrival, Maximilian met a German physician, Lewis Saynisch, who accompanied him on several outings in the area. At Bethlehem, Bodmer occupied himself with sketching various points of local interest. This view of the town as seen from a distant prospect was reproduced as Vignette III in the atlas of aquatints that accompanied the publication of Maximilian's travel account in 1839-43.