INSELIN, Charles.

Engraving, 268 x 342 mm. across the platemark, on laid paper with watermark of grapes (sheet size 405 x 530 mm.). Some small handling creases but in very good state.

Louis XIV had the Machine de Marly constructed to bring a large water supply to his fountains at his chateaux at Versailles and Marly. This engraving shows the machine in section. Based on a prototype at Modave Castle, it consisted of fourteen gigantic water wheels, each roughly 11.5 metres in diameter, which powered more than 250 pumps to bring water 162 metres up a hillside from the Seine to the Louveciennes aqueduct. Louis XIV had countless schemes and inventions that were supposed to bring water to his fountains but the Machine de Marly was by far the most extensive and costly. It was engineered by Arnold de Ville and built by Rennequin Sualem, both of whom had experience in pumping water from coal mines in the region of Liège. It is thought to have been the largest system of integrated machinery ever assembled at the time. After years in construction, it was completed in 1684 and despite frequent breakdowns remained in use until 1817, after which it was rebuilt and modified. Before the Machine de Marly was built, the amount of water delivered to Versailles already exceeded that used by the city of Paris, but was still insufficient. However, even if all the water pumped at Marly (an average of 3,200 cubic metres per day) had been supplied to Versailles, it still would not have been enough. Charles Inselin (b. 1673) describes himself as a “Geographe” on the engraving and is best known for his engravings of maps and town plans.