PEACE. La PAIX.

Date1783

Printer Carington Bowles 1724 - 1793

MediumMezzotint with line engraving

DimensionsOther (Plate (trimmed to the plate mark)): 14 × 9 3/4in. (35.6 × 24.8cm)
Overall: 19 1/4 × 15 1/2in. (48.9 × 39.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2021-181

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "PEACE. La PAIX./ Printed for & sold by Carington Bowles, No. 69 in St. Paul's Church Yard, London./ 501 Published as the Act directs, 9 June 1783."Label TextDepicting a woman seated at a table in a lavishly furnished interior, this print celebrates the end of the Revolutionary War. Near the woman rest an olive branch and two doves, both symbols of peace. The woman reads a pamphlet entitled “Preliminaries of Peace” which was a provisional peace deal signed by British, French, Spanish, and American representatives in January 1783 that called for an armistice between all parties. This paved the way for a more famous and binding agreement, the Treaty of Paris, which was signed on September 3, 1783.ProvenanceBefore 2021, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 2021-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).