Embarkation at the Port of Brest, Pl. 200 — Basset

A lively hand-coloured optical print capturing an embarkation amid the ships and quaysides of Brest, France's great Atlantic naval port.

Original title Vue perspective d'un Embarquement au Port de Brest, plate N. 200; published by Basset, Paris, c. 1770.

Vues d'optique were among the most popular printed entertainments of the eighteenth century, designed to be viewed through a zograscope that gave the image a vivid illusion of depth. Naval ports like Brest — the fortified Atlantic arsenal developed under Richelieu and Colbert — were favourite subjects, their crowded harbours and rigged warships offering exactly the receding perspective the optical viewer was built to exaggerate.

Hand-coloured copperplate engraving; sheet approximately 33 × 48 cm; in very good condition.