Antique Print-AMSTERDAM-IJ-SHIPS-NETHERLANDS-Georg Balthasar Probst-1770

Plate : ‘Oostelijk gedeelte van Amsterdam, van het Y te zien – Amsterdam vers le point de l’Est, prese du TY.’ This optical print shows a view of the eastern part of Amsterdam from the IJ lake. Captions below the image in Dutch and French.

Made by Georg Balthasar Probst after Probst.

Medium: engraving / etching with original old hand colouring on hand laid (verge) paper.

Sheet size: 42 x 32.5 cm (16.54 x 12.8 inch). Image size: 40 x 26.5 cm. (15.75 x 10.43 inch).

Condition: good, given age. Paper slightly browned and staining / soiling from handling as visible on image. Some light vertical creases near middle fold. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

AMSTERDAM-IJ-SHIPS-NETHERLANDS | DP-A2-001-27

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Original antique print by Georg Balthasar Probst, published in Augsburg ca. 1770. This is an optical print, also called ‘vue optique’ or ‘vue d’optique’, which were made to be viewed through a Zograscope, or other devices of convex lens and mirrors, all of which produced an optical illusion of depth.

Biography engraver: Georg Balthasar Probst (1732 – 1801) was a German artist, engraver and publisher in Augsburg, a major European publishing center in the 17th and 18th centuries. He produced architectural views of places around the world, including vues d�optique, which were published in various places during the last half of the 18th century, including Paris, Augsburg and London.