18th Century Optical Mondhare Print 'Vue Prospective de la grande et petite ecurie'

Original 18th century hand colored optical antique print illustrates the prospective view of the chateau de Versailles. Typical scenes of busy French opulence were soon to be overcast by the purge of the Terror which ensued soon after these vintage prints were made and resulted in the execution and final demise of the House of Bourbon. Mondhare, active at rue St.Jacques a l'Hotel Saumur, was a well-known publisher of optical prints, established in Paris. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many popular speciality establishments in Paris, Augsburg and London which produced optical viewing devices and special engravings to be viewed through them. In the 18th century the optical print or vue optique came into existence, whose exaggerated converging lines were intended to produce the optical illusion of deep recession. The viewing devices for which these perspective prints were produced consisted of a lens and a mirror, this requiring the use of reversed or mirror-image