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Original engraving by J. Chereau publisher in Paris around 1750, optical view enhanced in watercolor colors, representing the Pont Marie and the Pont rouge in Paris. (title reversed)
Prospectus Pontis vulgo dicti Marie et Pontis lignei dicti le Pont Rouge Parisiis. Framed, the frame is not original. Measurements: 30x42cm with frame 46x59cm
Optical views, also called views, perspectives or even "mondo nuovo", are engravings very fashionable between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. They were intended to be observed through a set of several mirrors or by means of a Zygrascope, an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Optical views can be considered the precursors of three-dimensional images and stereoscopes which were very successful in the 19th century. Optical views appear to have appeared in the 1740s and were parlor entertainments. The process developed first in Paris, then London and finally in Germany and aimed to represent - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of the East and West.
Ref: YJ81D94KB0