Title: Vue d'optique: 66e -Le Choeur de la Cathédrale de St. Paul de Londres.

Dimensions:  Sheet: 17-3/4"W x 12-5/8"H

                        Plate impression: 16-5/8"W x 11-1/4"H

The engraver: Daumont

Description:

This auction is for a hand colored Vue d’Optique engraving depicting the rather breathtaking interior architecture of the Cathedral of St. Paul in London. As is often the case with vues d’optique, figures in the foreground are in bright colors, with light and dark to suggest contour and depth; those in the distance are simply pale blots of color.  The architectural features also fade to a pale sepia shade in the background.

The History:

St. Paul’s Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London, built on Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London. The original St. Paul’s church was built on this site in 604 A.D.  The current cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren and completed in 1710, was the tallest building in London until 1963.

The Technology:

Vues d'Optique, optical views, were designed to provide a perception of depth from a single two-dimensional engraving.  They were viewed through a zograscope, also known as an "optical diagonal machine," by which the user looked through a large magnifying lens into a mirror in which the image was reflected. Techniques such as exaggerated perspective, brighter foreground colors, magnification of the subject matter and tight framing of the field of vision served to disrupt the viewers perception of a two-dimensional image and helped to draw the viewer into the scene.  

It did not provide the kind of 3D experience afforded by the stereoscopic photography that replaced it in the mid 1800s, but from about 1750 until the advent of photography it was a popular home entertainment for the well-to-do.  It offered a greater sense of presence in views of foreign places and sights than one could experience in images on walls or in books. Titles are often seen in multiple languages under the image, with a single title mirrored in reverse above it so that one could read it in a viewer.