Vüe De La Nouvelle Yorck (View of New York)
Engraver Anonymous, French, 18th century French
After Balthasar Friedrich Leizel German
Publisher Jacques François Chereau French
Not on view
An imaginary New York view of a riverside pier in colonial Manhattan, with a large ship under construction in the left foreground rowboats and further ships moored along the bank and upon the water, a large customs house at left, and a distant church. The architecture is derived from European sources and the print was published in Paris, but based on one first engraved in Augsburg. Sold across Europe, 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.
