A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DMagic Machines : A History of the Moving Image from Antiqity to 1900
Camera Obscura - Antiqity In 1646, Athanasius (Anastasius?) Kircher (1601-1680) described a Camera Obscura which consisted of an outer shell with lenses in the centre of each wall, and an inner shell containing transparent paper for drawing; the artist needed to enter by a trapdoor.
 Athanasius (Anastasius?) Kircher's Camera Obscura, 1646 Gernsheim, H., The Origins of Photography
Other versions also appeared. Sedan chairs were converted, and tent-type cameras were also in use - even up the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. Then smaller, portable ones were made. Thus the camera obscura, as it came to be known, became a popular aid to sketching. Robert Leggat: A History of Photography
Magic Lantern - c.1420 The Magic Lantern is the earliest form of slide projector. The first published image of the device appeared in Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, by Athanasius (Anastasius?) Kircher in the late 1600's. Images were painted on glass and projected on walls, cloth drapes, and, sometimes, on a wet cloth from behind the "screen". Naturally, to see images appear, either from a lantern, that heretofore was a light source only, or onto a screen, was "magical" in those early days.
Athanasius (Anastasius?) Kircher's Magic Lantern, 1671
A detail of the lamp and lens assembly is available
In 1671 in a new edition of his book Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow), Athanasius (Anastasius?) Kircher (1601 - 1680) described and illustrated a magic lantern - inaccurately however, depicting the relationship of the image to be projected and the lens shown were reversed in relation to the light source. Image Source: Stein, R., 'The Great Inventions'
Until movies came along, in the mid-to-late 1890's, the magic lantern was the sole projection device available. Though glass slides would indicate a still image, many innovations in magic lantern design and construction, as well as slide design (moving layers of glass images), allowed dissolving images, movement, and special effects. Thus, the magic lantern became "the Father of motion pictures, and the Grandfather of television. Copyright © 1994 Jack Judson. All rights reserved. Magic Lantern Castle Museum .
Peep Show - c.1437 A children's toy and scientific curiosity, usually consisting of a box with an eyehole, through which the viewer sees a miniature scene or stage setting, painted or constructed in perspective. Peep shows of an earlier time are often the only accurate representation of the stage design and scenery of the period. The earliest known peep shows are the perspective views said to have been painted in transparent colours on glass and lighted from behind for various effects, from sunshine to moonlight, by Leon Battista Alberti * in 1437. A New Perspective on Science and Art
In the 1671 Amsterdam edition of his Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, Athanasius Kircher includes an illustration of a strange device for recounting stories in circular form, the Smicroscopin. The container held the story of Christ's passion in eight dramatic tableaus or scenes (Kircher uses the word simulacrum - it was not in fact coined by him but belonged to the terminology of the pre-Socratic thinkers and their theories of vision). The appliance itself, hard- and software all in one, consisted of a round, flat, box construction, the lids of which were connected with a pin so that the picture wheel between could be rotated. One of the lids was inset with an ocular and the other had a round hole in it of the same diameter as the eyepiece of the optical cylinder. The speed and rhythm of the narrative was at the discretion of the user. It would have been easy to change the software wheel. This artefact was portable and did not require a particular kind of energy to operate it.
Drawing Aids Prior to Wollaston's Camera Lucida of 1806 and Varley's Graphic Telescope of 1811 there was a range of devices developed around the 15th and 16th centuries to aid the artist in correctly illustrating linear perspective.
 Alberti's Grid
Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo Da Vinci and later Albrecht Durer and the lesser known Jacob de Keyser developed these devices. You may also wish to read more about 'Drawing Aids'
Projector - c.1690 Projector devised by Johannes Zahn author of Occulis Artificialis (1685 and 1702) - glass slides mounted on a circular disk rotated in front of a Magic Lantern to give the impression of movement.
Vue d' Optique - late 17th to early 19th Century Prospects, Views, Perspectives, Vues d'Optique, Mondo Nuovo; all are names which were used to describe this form of specifically composed prints to be viewed in a special arrangement of mirrors and lenses to create an enhanced perspective. These were the forerunners of the stereoscopes and 3-D images which the 19th Century public [became] familiar with. Charles Hewitt, 30 Queen Street, Woollahra, 2025, Australia
Vue Perspective: Water Color Peep Show Print of St Pauls Cathedral, London, c.1790 Print paper size is 17 7/8" by 12 3/8". Engraved image size is 15" by 10" on hand made laid paper, not woven. This is a Prospective image, or Vue de Optique, used in a viewing machine, from the late 18th century. These were used by the wealthy to view these images at home, and showman used them in Peep Shows. Text below is in four languages, "A North West View of St. Pauls Cathedral London. / Perspective de la Cathedrale de St. Paul a Londre. / Veduta della Chiefa Catedrale di St Paolo, a Londra. / Prospect der DomKifche St Paul, zu London." Last lines below this are, "Med. Fol. No. 47. Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sax: Caes: Majestatis. Georg Balthasar Probst, excud. A. V." Above top of print, in reverse engraved text, is "LA CATHEDRALE DE ST. PAUL A LONDRES." You can read this correctly in a mirror. The viewing device, or Peep Show, had a mirror at a 45 degree angle. The print would lay flat on the bottom with the image reflected up on the mirror. The front of these Prospect Viewers, or Peep Shows, had lenses set in them to view the prints. This print is engraved and then watercolored. People in 18th century dress can be seen on the cobbled streets. A child rolls a hoop. The print is mounted on 18th century cardboard. What makes this print unique is that all the windows are cut out in the Cathedral and all the buildings on each side. The dome and the fence around the Cathedral also have small point cutouts. These were done with a hollow hole punch, not just an awl. The back of the print was then covered with white paper. Where all the cut out windows are in the print, the paper was left white. The paper covering the dome, roof line, all the non-window openings were all watercolored in red and green. see also dissolving views....'Melting Sights' - 1839 and 'Mist Pictures' - 1844 This Prospect Viewer or Peep show must have had a glass plate in the floor that allowed the print to be lit from the back. When backlit, the windows appear lighted and the Cathedral detail, dome, roof line, towers, fountain, etc., all have white, green or red light coming through.
Zograscope - 18th c. - early 19th c. Viewer for 'Vues d'Optique' - The Zograscope was a table-top device consisting of a wooden stand supporting a hinged mirror and lens.
 Zograscope The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture
The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture. also... In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many popular speciality establisments in Paris, Augsburg and London which produced optical viewing devices and special engravings [Vues d'Optique] to be viewed through them. In the 18th century, a type of "perspective" print came into existence, whose exaggerated converging lines were intended to produce the optical illusion of deep recession without the benefit of lenses and mirrors. The viewing devices for which these perspective prints were produced consisted of a simple box or frame with a peephole. Later, people peered through lenses, and finally [with the Zograscope] a mirror was incorporated that required the use of reversed or mirror-image pictures. It is a matter of fact that the "Rangakusha" (Japanese practicers [practictioners?] of Dutch studies) had great interest in their application, as appears from a manuscript dated 1784 by Shiba Kokan in which he explains the operation. [not available here]
Chromatrope, Eidotrope and Cycloidotrope - 1736 and onwards Optical devices by Pieter (Petrus) van Musschenbroek and others - a series of rotary, slipping and lever slides to create movement. Robinson, D., 'From Peep Show to Palace: The Birth of American Film'. You may also wish to read more about Pieter van Musschenbroek
Eidophusikon - 1781 Painter and set designer Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg devises a device he calls the Eidophusikon. This uses moving pictures to represent natural phenomena. Loutherbourg, who is known for his collaboration with the actor and manager David Garrick, (who) exhibits his invention in London. also... The Eidophusikon - a "cinema experience peep show with audience and image in same room" Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. You may also wish to read more about Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg
Ombres Chinoises - c.1775 In the 1770s a showman named Francois Domenica Seraphin produced what he called Shadow Plays, but was also called Shadow Theatre and most commonly by the French title Ombres Chinoises Using a magic lantern at Versailles; another inventor, Guyot, demonstrated how apparitions might be projected onto smoke.
Physionotrace -1784/86 Drawing device devised by Gilles-Louis Chrètien Please refer to the essay 'Drawing Aids'
The Panorama -1788 Robert Barker, an Edinburgh artist, while in jail for debt, was struck by the effect of light shining through the bars of his cell through a letter he was reading, and out of this perception he invented the first Panorama, a concave, transparent picture view of the city. This invention was soon replaced by the Diorama, which added the illusion of movement by shifting the room. Also sounds and novel lighting effects. Daguerre's London Diorama still stands in Regent's Park, a rare survival, since these shows depended always on effects of artificial light, produced by lamps or gas jets, and nearly always ended in fire. You may also wish to read more about Panoramas
Phantasmagoria, (Phantasmagorie, Fantasmagoria,Fantasmagorie) - c.1798 Etienne-Gaspard Robert (aka. Robertson) began experimenting in the 1780s with similar techniques (to Francois Seraphin) for producing 'fantomes artificiels'. He soon devised several improvements for the magic lantern, including a method for increasing and decreasing the size of the projected image by setting the whole apparatus on rollers. Thus the 'ghost' could be made to grow or shrink on front of the viewer's eyes. Robertson recognised the uncanny illusionist potential of the new technology and exploited the magic lantern's pseudonecromantic power with characteristic flamboyance. He staged his first Fantasmagorie as a Gothic extravaganza, complete with fashionably Radcliffean decor. You may also wish to read more about Phantasmagoria
Camera Lucida - 1806 Designed in 1807 by Dr. William Wollaston, was an aid to drawing. It was a reflecting prism which enabled artists to draw outlines in correct perspective. No darkroom was needed.
 Camera Lucida, c.1820 Image Source: Oxford University
http://members.tripod.com/~artphoto/cameras.html
Patent Graphic Telescope - 1811 Developed by Cornelius Varley. A complex version of the previous instrument [Camera Lucida] combining a low powered telescope with the Camera Lucida. Large graphic telescopes were mounted on tripods with telescopic legs. It was patented in 1811.
Kaleidoscope - 1816 Physicist Dr. Sir David Brewster invents the kaleidoscope, an optical device that uses mirrors to create colourful patterns in a viewing tube. You may also wish to read more about David Brewster
Diorama - 1822 A theatre for the display of large panoramas is designed by showman and scene painter Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. Known as the Diorama, its effects are enhanced by dramatic lighting. also... Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre - [the] "first Diorama - erected in Rue Sanson, Paris" Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. also... A theater built by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre for the display of large transparent paintings. Painted with the use of the camera obscura, they gave the illusion of movement from elaborate lighting techniques. Familiarity with the camera obscura led Daguerre towards photographic exploration. also... "...March 8, 1839. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, a French painter and inventor, for some seventeen years had been the proprietor of one of the most popular spectacles in Paris. It was a theatre of illusions called the Diorama. "No actors performed in Daguerre's Diorama theatre. It consisted of a revolving floor that presented views of three stages. On each stage was an enormous canvas (72'x 48') with scenes painted on both sides. Through the clever play of light, Daguerre could make one scene dissolve into another. Parisians were treated to the sight of an Alpine village before and after an avalanche, or Midnight Mass from inside and outside the cathedral, accompanied by candles and the smell of incense."
Posted to the Dead Media Site by Pat Lichty
Adatto, Kiku, 1993, Picture Perfect: The Art and Artifice of Public Image Making Basic Books
Newhall, Beaumont, 1976, The Daguerreotype in America Dover, New York also... from the Encyclopedia Britannica but, following correspondence with an authority on the subject, R Derek Wood, this editor needs to point out the apparent confusion on the part of the EB author regarding (in para1&2) the more modern concept of the Diorama and (in para3), the device and integral showplace of the Daguerre. Para4 resumes the confusion with Para5 is correct and neutral
[The Diorama was a] three-dimensional exhibit, frequently housed in a cubicle and viewed through an aperture. It usually consists of a flat or curved back cloth on which a scenic painting or photograph is mounted. Flat or solid objects are placed in front of the back cloth, and coloured transparent gauze or plastic drop curtains are used to heighten the three-dimensional effect. Recommended Reading Gernsheim, Helmut and Gernsheim, Alison, 1968, L. J. M. Daguerre: The Daguerrotype and The Diorama, Dover Two very comprehensive essays by R Derek Wood The Diorama in Great Britain in the 1820s and Daguerre and his Diorama in the 1830s
Myriorama - 1824 details from a rare books sale, 'Heritage Book Shop, Inc.'1998 Myriorama or, Many Thousand Views Designed by Mr. Clark. London Samuel Leigh 1824 A WONDERFUL PANORAMA WITH BEAUTIFULLY COLORED MOVABLE PANELS [PANORAMA]. One two-sided leaf of printed matter (190 x 265 mm; 7 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.), folded and laid in box. With sixteen hand-colored aquatint panels (69 x 200 mm; 2 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.) Original yellow box, with pictorial label mounted on upper cover. Box a bit bumped and chipped. A few panels a litte foxed, sheet of printed matter a little frayed and torn at the edges. Overall, a fine and charming example of a popular nineteenth century item for children. Panels in fine condition. "The Myriorama, is a moveable Picture, capable of forming an almost endless variety of Picturesque Scenery, and admirably adapted to excite amongs young Persons a Taste for Drawing, to furnish them with excellent Subjects for Imitation, and to supply an inexhaustible Source of Amusement" (from "title-page" of printed matter laid in). also... A Clark's Myriorama English, published 1824 Comprised of sixteen numbered 20 x 7cm aquatints with hand-colouring, published by Samuel Leigh, assembling to form many combinations of an idyllic view, when assembled 20 x 112cm, in pictorial card box. a recent online auction by Bonhams
Protean View - 1820s to 1830s A miniature, home version of the Diorama.
The story continues in Magic Machines - 1826 to 1875
References A comprehensive list of books dealing with this subject is available in the bibliography attached to this site Two most excellent online companions to this work are The Complete History of The Discovery of Cinematography by Paul T. Burns and... Animations the superb recreation of 19th century moving imagery by Charl Lucassen other online sites of particular note... George Eastman House 'Technology Archive' also... The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture
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