18th Century Optical View Color Engraving: Pleasure House In Gentilly

"Pleasure house in Gentilly near Paris" Original engraving. Optical view enhanced in watercolor colors, representing the view of a pleasure house in Gentilly. Paris: Chez Daumont around 1770-1800
Good general condition, marks on the sides and trace of folding at the bottom in the center, see photos Framed in a thin golden strip (small gaps) Frame size: 36 cm - width: 49.5 cm

Views of optics, also called views or perspectives, were very fashionable engravings 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 an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Optical sights can be considered as the precursors of three-dimensional images and stereoscopes which were very successful from the 19th century. Optical sights seem to appear in the 1740s and are parlor entertainments. The process was developed first in Paris, then London and finally in Germany and endeavored to represent - in an idealized way - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of the East and West.