A vue d'optique of the main square of Cádiz, published by Huquier in Paris, in contemporary colour.
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Subject: The main square of Cádiz
Technique: Copper engraving and etching, contemporary hand colour
Size: 266 x 416 mm, with margins
Type: Vue d'optique
Good condition, a few small tears in the margins (according to the seller).
Blake, E. C., 'Zograscopes, Virtual Reality, and the Mapping of Polite Society in Eighteenth-Century England', in: Gitelman & Pingree (eds.), New Media, 1740-1915 (2003).
Füsslin, G. et al., Der Guckkasten: Einblick, Durchblick, Ausblick (1995).
The great square of Cádiz, the busy heart of the city that in the eighteenth century handled Spain's trade with the Americas.
Jacques-Gabriel Huquier (1730-1805), known as Huquier fils, was one of the Paris publishers of vues d'optique, the brightly coloured perspective views made to be seen through an optical viewer or zograscope. The mirror or lens of the viewer gave the image depth and reversed it, which is why the title is also engraved back to front above the image. Views of the great cities of Europe and the world were a popular entertainment in the second half of the eighteenth century, and Huquier issued a long series from his shop in the rue Saint-Jacques, above the rue des Mathurins.
An eighteenth-century view of Cádiz, made for the optical viewer.