ADRIEN DEMBOUR (1799-1887)/NICOLAS GENGEL Vue du Château d'eau Prise du Boulevard St. Martin, Paris, vue d'optique of Daguerre's Diorama. Hand-colored wood engraving, the image measuring 9 3/4x15 1/2 inches (24.8x39.4 cm.), the trimmed sheet 12 1/8x18 1/8 inches (31x46 cm.), with the letterpress caption on recto. Circa 1834
Daguerre created the barn-sized Diorama with the architectural painter Charles Marie Bouton. Inside, a life-size painting moved past visitors with changing light effects. It opened in Paris in 1822 and became an immediate success.
This print was meant to be viewed with a zograscope, which would have magnified and enhanced the sense of depth of the work. It was one of many colorful, popular prints of landmarks produced by the studio. Princeton Museum Graphics lists this as made in 1840, but the original drawings were made earlier, for the Diorama burned down in March, 1839, on the very day Daguerre met with Samuel Morse to show him his daguerreotype invention.
