Optical-Antique Print-HARBOR-BLACKWELL-LONDON-GREENWICH-Basset-ca 1750

Description

This hand coloured optical print shows a view of the important Blackwall Harbor along the Thames, London’s main port for centuries. Greenwich is on the right. A shipdock on the left and many boats and ships in the water.

At the bottom we can read the title in French, while in the upper edge we find “Blackwall” written from right to left; the same image adopts John Boydell’s analogue image inverting right with left: in fact, the print was designed to be viewed through special optical boxes with lenses that inverted the image and gave the sense of depth.

Made by an anonymous engraver after Basset.

Medium: Engraving / hand coloured on hand laid (verge) paper.

Sheet size: 49 x 32.5 cm (19.29 x 12.8 inch). Image size: 38.5 x 24 cm. (15.16 x 9.45 inch).

Condition: good, given age. Brown spots. Smudges. Creases. Brownish. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

ENGLAND-HARBOR-BLACKWELL-LONDON-GREENWICH-SHIPS-BOATS-SHIPDOCK | RBOS-T33-LARGE

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This attractive print was published by Basset in Paris on rue S. Jacques, the street in the French capital where optical sellers gathered who could offer a complete range. Ca 1750. 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 artist: The Basset firm was an important publisher located on rue Saint-Jacques, active from 1700 to 1865. The Basset’s published a variety of prints: from luxurious art prints, optical prints to inexpensive prints, children prints and even wallpaper. They smartly adapted and manoeuvered through changing political times.