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View of a fireworks celebration in London's Green Park during a celebration of peace in 1763. A crowd is shown watching the fireworks and military pageant. In the 18th century, ballooning, firework displays and duels often took place in Green Park. The print is also a vue d'optique.
Vues d'optiques were 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. The form emerged in 1740, and engravings were published mainly in London, Paris and Augsburg for roughly the next 100 years, until better stereoscopic technology supplanted it. 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, 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. They most commonly depicted landmarks in large European cities or the Holy Land.
Condition: Very good with the usual overall toning, scattered edge wear, and light foxing.
Reference:
"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). |
