Vue d'Optique

Vue de Londres sur du cote du sud est depuis la Tour jusqu au Pont de Londres

24 x 19.5 inches

Etching in vibrant original hand colour published in Augsburg circa 1750.

The market for topographical prints in Europe grew exponentially from the 1750s onwards as printing methods improved and people became increasingly curious about what lay beyond their borders. Travellers and merchants would acquire a print, take it home and then find it was immediately copied by a local print seller for commercial ends. Consequently, images were forever going into reverse and the people of Augsburg, for instance, would not know whether St. Paul's was really to the left or the right of the Tower. Many such prints were sold as Optical Views intended to be seen with the aid of a mirror and a lens thereby throwing the reversed image back into reality. This wonderful scene on the Thames generously delights in all of London's principal landmarks at the time. We can see Wren's magnificent dome of St. Paul's dominating the skyline with the Monument to the Great Fire and the Tower of London further to the fore. All manner of craft ensure that the Thames is seen as a busy and international waterway.