Travels
His 1812 journey to the Netherlands (under French rule at the time) is documented by Melling not only by a large number of surviving drawings but also by the letters sent to his family in Paris. The joys and inconveniences of that journey, which took him as far as the Hanseatic towns, are reported in a lively style, as are various aspects of Dutch life, the monuments and inhabitants of large cities, like Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and the "overwhelming appeal" of villages such as Broek in Waterland and the peaceful Sunday atmosphere of Zwolle. The illustrated and annotated letters, preceded by an introduction – like a travel diary intended for a Voyage pittoresque – were never published. In 1815 he traveled with his daughter, drawing the capitals of all the French départements, and visited Britain in 1817.
After 1821, he was sent by the French Government to document the Pyrenees and demonstrate that their natural beauty rivalled that of the Alps. 72 fine aquatints, based on original sepia watercolours, were issued - together with text by Joseph Antoine Cervini - as: Voyage Pittoresque dans les Pyrénées Françaises et les Départements Adjacents, (Picturesque Travels in the French Pyrenees and the Adjacent Areas), Treuttel and Wurtz, Paris: 1826-30, (Bibliographie nationale Française, BnF, The French national Bibliography ISBN 2-911715-12-8). Examples of hand-coloured aquatints from this work include:
- Port de Vénasque
- Le Pont d'Espagne
- Le Lac de Gaube
- Vue prise de l'Hôtel Gassion à Pau
- Le Perthus et le Fort de Bellegarde
- Le Lac de Séculejo et ses Cascades
- Grotte du Mas-d'Azil
- Site de la Vallée d'Aure
- Ermitage de Saint-Antoine de Galamus
- Fontestorbes
Read more about this topic: Antoine Ignace Melling
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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