Vue des Magazins de la Compagnie des Indes a Pondichery, de l`Amiraute et de la Maison du Gouverneur (View of the East India Company Shops in Pondicherry, the Admiralty and the Governor`s House)

Circa 1760s

Original hand-coloured engraving on paper

Print size: 9.75 x 16.25 in (24.5 x 41.3 cm)
Sheet size: 10.25 x 16.75 in (26 x 42.8 cm)

Optical print by an anonymous printmaker of the French East India Company's warehouses, the Admiralty and the Governor's House at Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu. Pondicherry, on the Coromandel Coast south of Madras, was a French colony from 1814 to 1954. The first Government House at Pondicherry was commissioned by the French Governor Dupleix, designed by Dumont and completed in 1752. Following the destruction of Pondicherry by the British in 1761, the Government House was reconstructed on a more modest scale by Bouçet on the same site.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many popular specialty establishments in Paris, London (England), Augsburg (Germany) and Bassano (Italy) which produced optical viewing devices and special engravings to be viewed through them. In the 18th century the optical print or vue optique came into existence, whose exaggerated converging lines were intended to produce the optical illusion of deep recession. They could be viewed alone or through a zograscope, a wooden stand surmounted by a lens which magnified the image and accentuated the effect of perspective. They could also be placed in optical boxes, the spectator then looked inside the box through the lens. This distraction was greatly appreciated in the 18th century in the salons of the bourgeoisie and the nobility as well as in the countryside thanks to the peddlers.

These etchings are nowadays exhibited in museums all over the world and extremely appreciated by collectors and decorators alike for their historical interest and their high decorative value.

This work will be shipped unframed

NON-EXPORTABLE