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 towards the Countryside Gate at Boston)
This imaginary view represents King (later renamed State) Street in Boston, Massachusetts with the architecture derived from European sources rather colonial era buildings. It is part of a series engraved in Augsburg that 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 made to contain them.
Artwork Details
- 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 towards the Countryside Gate at 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: Plate: 12 5/8 × 16 13/16 in. (32 × 42.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 13/16 × 18 9/16 in. (35.1 × 47.1 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of William H. Huntington, 1883
- Object Number: 83.2.2097
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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