Vue de la Ville du Mexique prise du coté du Lac.

Title

Vue de la Ville du Mexique prise du coté du Lac.

View shows a district of Mexico City with a "view optique" a zograscope, which is an optical device for enhancing the sense of depth perception from a flat picture. It consists of a large magnifying lens through which the picture is viewed. Some models have the lens mounted on a stand in front of an angled mirror. This allows someone to sit at a table and to look through the lens at the picture flat on the table. Pictures viewed in this way need to be left-right reversed; this is obvious in the case of writing. A print made for this purpose is called a vue d'optique or perspective view.

ca. 1760

Artist

Daumont