Rare French Polyorama Panoptique

Rare French Polyorama Panoptique, c. 1840, for viewing 3 3/4 x 5 1/2-inch tinted paper day/night and metamorphic slides, with simple lens, pleated circular bellows, diced green paper-covered body, hinged lid and back connected by a brass rod for varying the light entering the box, wd. 6 1/4 x extended lg. 9 in., (some very minor losses and splits in views, otherwise fine original condition), with nine hand-tinted metamorphic pinhole views with cloth tabs, titled in French Palais Royal, Chateau des Fleurs (Paris), Venise, Assemble Nationale, Somerset House / Bernard Castle, La Bastille, Pont du Gard (France), St. Sulpice and Le Peintre devant la Nature et dans son Atelier . Literature: Eyes, Lies and Illusions , exhibition catalogue, 2004. Raising or lowering the lid and back alters the amount of light entering the box, transforming views from day to night by means of pinholes cut in the paper to simulate lighted windows or the moon, illuminating colored fireworks, or in some cases altering the scene altogether. This latter effect is achieved by overlaying one view onto another, in the case of the transformation of Somerset House by day into the romantic ruins of Barnard Castle by night. Le Peintre depicts an artist at work in a landscape and in his studio, where he paints by lamplight the mountanous scene that he had previously observed.