Vista y Prospettiva del Palacio del Rey de Portugal en Lisbona

1784

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Vista y Prospettiva del Palacio del Rey de Portugal en Lisbona is a 1784 by George Balthazar Probst, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: George Balthazar Probst
When & what style?: 1784 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This painting shows a view of the palace of the King of Portugal in Lisbon. It's an optical view, meant to be seen with a special device that makes it look 3D. The device uses a convex lens and a mirror to create this effect, which was popular in Europe during the 1700s. This technique was used to create a sense of depth and realism. You can learn more about this style by looking into the technique of chiaroscuro.

The story of this work

Overview

This perspective view (often called a vue d’optique ,or optical view) is an example of a popular art and entertainment format during the second half of the 1700s in Europe. The hand-colored etching and engraving was made to be viewed with a special viewing device consisting of a convex lens and a mirror, so that scene appeared to be a three-dimensional image. Here, the viewer can enjoy a perspective view of the palace of the King of Portugal in Lisbon. Such views—which were only made for a short time and largely disappeared with the advent of photography—appealed to both elite audiences, who…

Did you know?

Perspective views such as this were viewed with special viewing devices in the 18th century that are considered the precursors to modern moving images.

Read the full account in the museum source.