Vue d'optique - L'intérieur de l'église Saint Sulpice

Original engraving.
Optical view heightened in watercolors, depicting an interior view of Saint Sulpice church.
Optical views, also called views, perspectives or "mondo nuovo", are engravings that were very fashionable between the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. They were intended to be viewed through a set of multiple mirrors or by means of a Zograscope, an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Optical views can be considered as precursors to 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 focused on representing - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of East and West. Fine impression with very fresh colors.