Title: 211. Avenues du Grand Sultan vers le jardin des Cipres

Dimensions:  Sheet: 20"W x 14"H

                        Plate impression: 17-1/8"W x 12-1/4"H

The engraver: À Paris chez Daumont rue St. Martin

Description:

This auction is for a hand colored Vue d’Optique engraving depicting a view down a walkway in the cypress garden of the Grand Sultan. I do not know which Grand Sultan this refers to, nor the location of his garden.

This view was at one time stuck to a wall with pins, or maybe nails.  There are holes in three of the corners and a piece missing in the fourth that is likely the result of careless removal from the wall in question.  There is also a water stain in the upper right corner.  Nevertheless, this is a vue d’optique by Georg B. Probst, which makes it pretty special.  With a proper mat cut for it, the flaws will mostly disappear.  

I am showing two versions of the print.  The first is as it naturally appears.  The second is flipped horizontally, as it would appear in a viewer that presents a mirror image. There are other offering detail views.

The History:

I would love to tell you how Probst was able to engrave an image of the sultan’s garden, but sadly, I don’t know what sultan. Or where his garden was. So the question of how an image of it came into Probst’s possession to copy is way beyond my ken.  If you know, please enlighten me.

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.