Vue d'optique - Galerie élevée dans la place de Grêve à l'occasion de la naissance de Msgr le Dauphin

Original engraving. Optical view heightened in watercolors, depicting a view representing the gallery erected in the Place de Grève on the occasion of the birth of Monseigneur le Dauphin.
Optical views, also called views, perspectives or "mondo nuovo", are engravings that were very fashionable between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They were intended to be observed through a set of several mirrors or by means of a Zograscope, an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Optical views can be considered as the precursors of three-dimensional images and stereoscopes which enjoyed great success from the 19th century onwards. Optical views appear to have emerged in the 1740s and were salon entertainments. The process was first developed in Paris, then London and finally in Germany and aimed to represent - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of East and West.
Fine impression with very fresh colors.