Optical zograscope

The zograscope was a very popular optical device in the second half of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century. Its structure is based on two correlated parts: the lens and the mirror reflecting the picture – a print placed in front of the zograscope in a perpendicular position towards the device. When the lens, the mirror and the print are adequately positioned towards one another, the print we are watching appears to be a spatial three-dimensional picture. For the purpose of this effect, prints must have specific properties – these are vue d’optique pictures. They are characterised by high linearity, a clearly outlined linear perspective and a composition with clearly emphasised horizontal lines. Vue d’optique prints presented mainly well-known panoramic views of famous buildings shown in a broad environment, gardens or urban squares. The supplementary descriptions were reflected in reverse, because when watched in a mirror, they appeared reversely towards the original.

In the historical collection of the Museum of the Palace at Wilanów, 15 vue d’optique prints have survived (they are described in an article by M. Letkiewicz Vue d’optique – 18th-century 3D graphics in the Wilanów collection, in ‘Studia Wilanowskie’, XXIV, 2017). These are coloured copperplate engravings. This collection may have originally been larger, but we do not know who brought them to the Wilanów collection. We can presume that since prints have survived, the zograscope must have also been kept in Wilanów. The object described here was purchased for the Museum. It supplements the exhibition in the Princess Marshal Izabela Lubomirska’s Study.

The zograscope allows us to recall the Grand Tour era – an important period for the history of the Wilanów Museum. In those days, vue d’optique prints were a popular souvenir – thanks to them, views admired during the journey could be watched again in a spatial form.

Grand Tour, rycina, widok, panorama, vue d’otpique, 3D, obraz trójwymiarowy, obraz przestrzenny, Marek Letkiewicz, Izabela z Czartoryskich Lubomirska