Prospect der König Strasse gegen das Land Thor zu Boston / Vuë de la Rue du Roi vers la Porte de la Campagne à Boston (View of King Street in Boston)

Artist and engraver Franz Xavier Habermann German
ca. 1778
Not on view
An imaginary view of an important street in Boston, Massachusetts. The architecture is derived from European sources and the print is part a series engraved in Augsburg and sold internationally. Such prints were known as Perspective Prints, or Vues d'optique in French, and Guckkastenbilder or Perspektivansichten in German. They were intended to be viewed through an optical device called a perspective glass or zograscope that contains a concave lens and a mirror that reversed the image and enhanced its three-dimensionality. Specially designed peepboxes were also created to contain them.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Prospect der König Strasse gegen das Land Thor zu Boston / Vuë de la Rue du Roi vers la Porte de la Campagne à Boston (View of King Street in Boston)
  • Series/Portfolio: Collection des Prospects
  • Artist and engraver: Franz Xavier Habermann (German, Habelschwerdt, Glatz 1721–1796 Augsburg)
  • Publisher: Academie Imperiale, Augsburg (German, founded 1755)
  • Date: ca. 1778
  • Medium: Hand-colored etching and engraving
  • Dimensions: Image: 9 15/16 × 15 9/16 in. (25.3 × 39.6 cm)
    Plate: 12 3/8 × 16 7/8 in. (31.5 × 42.9 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Henry J. Bernheim, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.646.23(9)
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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