Vue Perspective de la Ville de Geneve, prise du cote du Lac.

Title

Vue Perspective de la Ville de Geneve, prise du cote du Lac.

Description

View optique of the city of Geneva on Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

ca. 1770

Artist

Daumont (1740-1775)

Jean François Daumont (1740 - 1775) was a french publisher and printer of vues d'optique, wallpaper, popular prints, and playing-cards.

Historical Description

Geneva was a fortified border town of the Allobroges against the Helvetii in the Celtic period. It came under Roman rule around 120 BC. From 400 to 1536 it was a bishop's see, and in the fifth and ninth centuries it also functioned as the seat of the Burgundian kings. In 1526 Geneva joined a confederation of cities together with Bern and Fribourg. The French reformer John Calvin founded the Geneva Academy, now the University of Geneva, in 1559. From 1540 to 1700, Geneva had become an important refuge and new home for Italian and French Protestant refugees. The immigrant families, however, were not only a burden for the city, but also a social and economic enrichment through their education and knowledge in silk production and trade and in the art of watchmaking, which they brought with them and settled in Geneva and the surrounding area.