The North West View of St. Pauls Cathedral London.[Title repeated in French, Italian, and German.]
Cum Gratia et Privilego Sac: Caes: Majestatis. Georg Balthasar Probst, excud. A.V [Augsburg, Germany, n.d., c.1740s].
Hand coloured engraving, 310 x 420mm. 12¼ x 16½".
Several figures in foreground. Vue D’Optique prints, known as the perspective views, were intended for use in an optical diagonal machine, and were highly popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Used with a special viewer called “optical machines,” “optiques,” or 'zograscopes', these prints were a form of entertainment. Published in Paris, Augsburg, London, etc., ca. 1750-1800, the prints were exhibited by travelling showmen in the streets throughout Europe and also were collected by those in the professional and upper classes who had the optical machines at home. Another attribute of these prints is their bright, often crude hand colouring, applied boldly so to show the tints when viewed through the lens. The prints usually have a series of colours-blue, pink and yellow are common-crossing in bands from side to side, with bright highlights often including red. These cheerful and colourful images, with their fascinating history and peculiar appearance, make for unusual and appealing eighteenth-century prints. Numbered 'Med: Folo. No: 47' lower left and '181' upper right; from a series engraved and published by Georg Balthasar Probst (1732 - 1801).
[Ref: 26237] £240.00
Hand coloured engraving, 310 x 420mm. 12¼ x 16½".
Several figures in foreground. Vue D’Optique prints, known as the perspective views, were intended for use in an optical diagonal machine, and were highly popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Used with a special viewer called “optical machines,” “optiques,” or 'zograscopes', these prints were a form of entertainment. Published in Paris, Augsburg, London, etc., ca. 1750-1800, the prints were exhibited by travelling showmen in the streets throughout Europe and also were collected by those in the professional and upper classes who had the optical machines at home. Another attribute of these prints is their bright, often crude hand colouring, applied boldly so to show the tints when viewed through the lens. The prints usually have a series of colours-blue, pink and yellow are common-crossing in bands from side to side, with bright highlights often including red. These cheerful and colourful images, with their fascinating history and peculiar appearance, make for unusual and appealing eighteenth-century prints. Numbered 'Med: Folo. No: 47' lower left and '181' upper right; from a series engraved and published by Georg Balthasar Probst (1732 - 1801).
[Ref: 26237] £240.00