The world in perspective Views and optical recreations in the Age of Enlightenment
Exhibition organized by the Montpellier University Law Library with the Château de Flaugergues
Date: September 20 to October 31, 2014
Timetable:
Location:Richter University Library
To mark the European Heritage Days, the Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Montpellier, in partnership with the Université Montpellier 1 and the Châteaude Flaugergues, organized a unique exhibition of 18th-centuryoptical views. The project was prompted by the rediscovery, restoration and digitization of eighty-six views in the collections of theUniversity Libraryof Law, Economics and Management. The Château de Flaugergues, which exhibits a comparable collection and a machine for displaying these views, a "zograscope", is hosting the exhibition in the setting of an aristocratic Montpellier residence during the European Heritage Days. Finally, on September 20 and 21, the association "Les machines du Fantasmagore" (Fantasmagore's machines) will be staging fun activities around the collections.
Optics, living room entertainment...
The study of new optical phenomena made the infinitely small accessible through the microscope, and the infinitely large through the telescope. These instruments were the delight of high society, with its passion for science. Another device made its appearance in aristocratic and bourgeois homes: the "optic". This device, consisting of a large lens, made it possible to observe hand-colored, high-perspective engravings - optical views. Magnified by the magnifying glass, the subject of the engraving - often a landscape - gives the viewer the impression of depth.
...but also a popular show...
In the streets, fairs and village squares, peddlers set up travelling shows based on the observation of images through a lens. In the optical box, passers-by marvel at the light effects that simulate the passage from day to night, fireworks or fire.
... evocation of the journey...
In addition to original 18th-centuryengravings, the exhibition highlights the two worlds in which they were used: the aristocratic or bourgeois salon, and the fair where the peddler set up his optics box. Through these early images, you'll see the world as it was seen in the Age of Enlightenment. While the fashion for the Grand Tour invited wealthy young people to embark on an educational journey across Europe, only the "montreur de vues" (view showman) allowed the more modest to indulge in an imaginary voyage.
... and reality simulation.
Finally, you'll discover other fashionable optical recreations: the magic lantern, anamorphosis, the camera obscura, right up to the stereoscope and polyorama, which triumphed in the 19thcentury.
Watch the two videos :
Les machines du fantasmagore" association
Invited to Invited to the 2014 European Heritage Days, the association " Les machines du fantasmagore " specializes in pre-cinema animation, collecting original objects and reconstructing period machines to help you relive the simple, ingenious magic of optical effects in the Age of Enlightenment.
Around a fairground optics box, to the sound of the peddler's blarney, you could watch the sun set over Saint Sophia and the lights come on over Rome's triumphal bridge.
Visitors also had the opportunity to immortalize their profile in the silhouette-photograph, a device inspired by Lavater's machine, which before photography was used to produce very faithful portraits.