Vue d'optique - Vue de l'Eglise de St Jean de Latran à Rome

Original engraving. Optical view heightened in watercolors, depicting a view of the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome. Optical views, also called vues, 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 series of mirrors or by means of a Zograscope, an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Optical views can be considered the precursors of three-dimensional images and stereoscopes which enjoyed great success from the 19th century onwards. Optical views seem to appear in the 1740s and were drawing room entertainments. The process was first developed in Paris, then London and finally in Germany, and focused on representing - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of East and West. Fine impression with very fresh colors.