BASSET, Paul-André – VUE DE MALTE – 1790c

Description

BASSET, Paul-André – VUE DE MALTE – 1790c

Title of Map: VUE DE MALTE. A Paris chez Basset rue S. Jacques a S.e Genevieve

Area Depicted: A view from Valletta looking towards St. Angelo. The positions of the cities of Vittoriosa and Senglea have been reversed but Fort Ricasoli is in the correct position. The caption describes the landscape as an amphitheatre , the exact word used by the Abbé de St. Non in his Voyage Pittoresque du Royaume… published in 1781-6.

Engraver: Basset, Paul-André

Place: Paris

Year: c 1790

Engraving size: 234 x 395 mm (excluding text)

Verso: blank

Printing method: copper engraving

Description: Basset was an engraver who flourished in Paris 1785-1792, belonging to a family of print publishers. His business address was Rue S. Jacques a S.te. Geneviève. He made two optic views of Malta, as well as an engraving depicting a Maltese Lady with this note: Il tient Magasin de Papuers en Rouleaux, with a different address: Rue St. Jacques au coin de celles de Mathurins.

A so-called optical print. A very decorative view of Valetta, seen from the sea. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many popular speciality establishments in Paris, Augsburg and London, which produced optical viewing devices and special engravings to be viewed through them. In the 18th century the optical print or vue optique came into existence, whose exaggerated converging lines were intended to produce the optical illusion of deep recession. The viewing devices for which these perspective prints were produced consisted of a lens and a mirror, this requiring the use of reversed or mirror-image pictures.

These views were all published by Basset or Chereau, and it is clear that the Basset came before Chereau as they are better in quality. Chereau must have acquired the plates and re-worked them, producing a noticeable cruder result.