Cerveau's Savannah is a book by Joseph Frederick Waring. Published in 1973 by the Georgia Historical Society, the book takes its name from Joseph Cerveau, the artist responsible for the panoramic tempera painting of Savannah, Georgia, completed in 1837, which Waring dissected for the book. He estimated the painting was done in May, judging by the trees being in full leaf and blooming magnolias being visible on East Bryan Street.[1] It is regarded as Cerveau's finest work.[1][2]
In the painting, undertaken from the now demolished City Exchange building,[3] Savannah is estimated to be around 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and .75 miles (1.21 km) deep, from Bay Street to Liberty Street. Cerveau omitted the northern portion of the city.[1] The painting was stitched into the back of the book in a smaller form, "the better for the reader to unfold and gaze at while reading and turning the pages," wrote The Atlanta Constitution.[2]
The book has an abrupt ending, due to Waring's untimely death in 1972, aged 69.
References
- ^ a b c Fraser, Walter J. (2005). Savannah in the Old South. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-2776-1.
- ^ a b "Clipped From The Atlanta Constitution". The Atlanta Constitution. 1974-02-27. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
- ^ "Georgia Historical Society to display colorful, evocative Civil War-era banners". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 2023-07-18.