John Bachmann, Sr. was a Swiss-born lithographer and artist best known for his bird's-eye views, especially of New York City. He was a journeyman lithographic artist in Switzerland and Paris until 1847. His first known American print appeared in 1848, a view from an imagined point above Union Square in New York, looking south toward The Battery. In 1849 and 1850, he created and published a series of American views, including views of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Havana. Both directly copied and used as a primary source by other lithographers at home and in Europe, these were the first major bird's eye views, as opposed to panoramic views in the United States.
Although best known for his views of New York, his name is attached to a variety of prints, including the well-known "Bird's Eye View of the Seat of War" series produced during the American Civil War, which show the theater of war in six sections, each a perspective view of entire states or sets of states.
Bachmann married and had four children, the eldest of whom, John Bachmann, Jr. also became a lithographer.