Georg Balthasar Probst (1732-1801)
(artist and engraver)
Project d’une Place a Petersbourg en Russie
(Med. Folio No. 9)
[Projection of the Plaza, St. Petersburg, Russia]
Augsburg: 2nd Half 18th Century
Hand-colored engraving
12 x 16 inches, image and text
12.75 x 17 inches, sheet
$475

A vue d’optique of a thoroughfare lined by buildings in St. Petersburg, Russia, with pedestrians in what was then contemporary dress.  Vues d’optique are hand-colored etchings and engravings intended to be viewed through a convex lens.  The devices, known variously as zograscopes, optiques, optical machines and peepshows, were an optical entertainment of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Like the one shown here, vues d’optiques were rendered in high-key color and dramatic linear perspective, which enhanced the illusion of three-dimensionality when viewed through the lens.  According to the Getty Research Institute, which owns other such views by Probst, street performers would set up viewing boxes with a series of prints giving a pictorial tour of famous landmarks, dramatic events and foreign lands.  Some vues d’optique also had parts of the scenes cut out and the openings backed with translucent papers so that when the print was backlit, it appeared as an illuminated night scene.  Vue d’optiques were often separately issued for sale in various countries.  The print offered here is titled in Latin, French, Italian and German, indicating it was intended for sale both within Germany and to the export trade.

Georg Balthasar Probst was a German artist, engraver and publisher in Augsburg, a major European publishing center in the 17th and 18th centuries.  He produced architectural views of places around the world intended as vues d’optiques, which were published in various places during the last half of the 18th century, including Paris, Augsburg and London.  He was also known for his portraits.

Probst came from an extended family of printers, whose businesses can all be traced back to the publishing firm of Jeremias Wolff (1663-1724).  After Wolff's death his firm was continued as “Wolff’s Heirs” (Haeres Jer. Wolffii) by his son-in-law Johann Balthasar Probst (1689-1750).   After Probst’s death in 1750, his descendants divided the business and published under their own imprints: Johann Friedrich Probst (1721-1781), Georg Balthasar Probst (1732-1801) and Johann Michael Probst.  Another part of the Wolff-Probst firm was acquired by the Augsburg publisher Johann Georg Hertel (1700-1775), whose son Georg Leopold Hertel had married a sister of the Probsts.  In the next generation, Georg Mathäus Probst (d. 1788), son of Georg Balthasar Probst, also became an engraver of portraits and views.

Inscriptions: Titled in Latin, French, German and Italian, and inscribed, “Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sac[rae]. Caes[area] Majestatis.  Georg Balthasar Probst execud A[ug].V[ind].” [By the grace and favor of His Sacred Imperial Majesty.  Georg Balthasar Probst made it in Augsburg.]

Condition:  Generally very good, the colors bright, with the usual overall toning, wear, soiling, soft creases.  Some small chips, losses, short tears in margins, all restored as professionally rebacked on Japanese paper.

References:

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.  France: Librairie Gründ, 1966.  Vol. 7, p. 32.

“Emperor’s Palace in Beijing.” Devices of Wonder.  J. Paul Getty Trust. 2001.  http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/devices/html/homepage.html (30 September 2002).

Ritter, Michael. [Maphist] “Re: Friedrich Bernhard Werner panoramic maps of cities.” 6 March 2006 and 7 March 2006.  MapHist Mailing List. List Information: http://www.maphist.info.  (7 March 2006).