Vue d'optique - Vue de la chapelle St Paul à Édimbourg prise de la place d'Yorck.

Original engraving. Hand-colored aquatint optical view, depicting a view of St Paul's chapel, taken from York Place in Edinburgh.
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 viewed through a set 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 appear to have emerged in the 1740s and were parlour entertainments. The process was first developed in Paris, then London and finally in Germany, and sought to represent - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of East and West.
Some very light dampstaining, otherwise a fine impression with very fresh colors.