{
"data": {
"id": 161862,
"accession_number": "2001.15",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "The Optical Viewer, c. 1793. Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Cazenave (French, active 1793\u20131843), after Louis L\u00e9opold Boilly (French, 1761\u20131845). Chalk-manner etching and engraving; image: 54.7 x 45.1 cm (21 9/16 x 17 3/4 in.); platemark: 67.5 x 53.3 cm (26 9/16 x 21 in.); sheet: 72.4 x 54.2 cm (28 1/2 x 21 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2001.15",
"current_location": null,
"title": "The Optical Viewer",
"creation_date": "c. 1793",
"creation_date_earliest": 1793,
"creation_date_latest": 1795,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France"
],
"technique": "Chalk-manner etching and engraving",
"support_materials": [
{
"description": "laid paper",
"watermarks": []
}
],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Etching",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "Image: 54.7 x 45.1 cm (21 9/16 x 17 3/4 in.); Platemark: 67.5 x 53.3 cm (26 9/16 x 21 in.); Sheet: 72.4 x 54.2 cm (28 1/2 x 21 5/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.724,
"height_inch": 28,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5,
"width": 0.542,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
},
"platemark": {
"height": 0.675,
"height_inch": 26,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"width": 0.533,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
},
"image": {
"height": 0.547,
"height_inch": 21,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"width": 0.451,
"width_inch": 17,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 187619,
"title": "Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints",
"description": "Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).",
"opening_date": "2001-08-26T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 282301,
"title": "Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings",
"description": "Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).",
"opening_date": "2016-07-16T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 665048,
"title": "Imagination in the Age of Reason",
"description": "Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-09-28T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Susan Schulman Printseller, New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20132001",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "March 5, 2001\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Optical devices frequently appear in Louis L\u00e9opold Boilly\u2019s work.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "In this print, a fashionable woman and a boy look at prints through an optical viewer known as a \u201czograscope.\u201d This form of entertainment, popularized during the 1700s, was equipped with a concave lens that made images appear three-dimensionally. Special prints called vues d\u2019optiques, or \u201cperspective views,\u201d were designed to enhance the sense of three-dimensionality, creating an immersive experience. Most of the scenes depicted cities or memorable occurrences, allowing the spectator to witness important sites and events from the comfort of their own home.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79985159"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2001.15-the-optical-viewer"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Wehn, James. \u201cThe 18th-Century Selfie: A new exhibition looks at the role of prints and drawings in pre- and post-revolutionary France.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 4 (July/August 2016): 8-9.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p.8; Mentioned: p. 9",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2016-04"
}
],
"catalogue_raisonne": "Inventaire du Fonds Fran\u00e7ais 4.156.4; Por.& Ber. I (part I) p. 346; Br\u00e9ton & Zuber 1804E II/II",
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2001.15",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2001.15/2001.15_web.jpg",
"width": "671",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "400757",
"filename": "2001.15_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2001.15/2001.15_print.jpg",
"width": "2554",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "6334108",
"filename": "2001.15_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2001.15/2001.15_full.tif",
"width": "3552",
"height": "4729",
"filesize": "50413104",
"filename": "2001.15_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 161862,
"creators": [
{
"id": 28907,
"description": "Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Cazenave (French, active 1793\u20131843)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
},
{
"id": 13285,
"description": "Louis L\u00e9opold Boilly (French, 1761\u20131845)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": "after",
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1761",
"death_year": "1845",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 2
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2001-03-05T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1793,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1793",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-08-22 11:53:17.292000"
}
}