Balthasar Friedrich Leizelt

Balthasar Friedrich Leizelt was a German artist and copperplate engraver working from Augsburg.

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. He also engraved maps.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2024