John J. Gredler Works of Art

Pair 18th Century Hand Colored Engravings of Brussels by Frederic Leizel

Pair of hand colored engravings of the Royal Palace and Brussels Park by Balthasar Friedrich Leizelt (also spelled Leizel, active 1750–1800) a German artist and copperplate engraver working from Augsburg. These are beautiful and evocative renderings of architecture, open space and perspective.  Circa 1782.

1- Place Royal A Bruxelles

2- Vue Du Parc A Bruxelles

18" h  x  22" w

Leizelt produced a series of European and American scenic views at a time when pictures of foreign countries and people were popular and designed for use in optical viewers. As is normal for these prints the series title is a mirror image because optical viewers made use of mirrors which reversed the image. The Age of Enlightenment sparked a great interest in science, so that optical toys and devices became a standard form of drawing-room entertainment in the 1700s and 1800s. Light, perspective, and multiple images were cleverly combined to create the illusion of moving pictures.