Triumphal entry of British troops in New York, 1776

1776: New York, all things may change!

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were many popular specialty 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.

Mid September 1776 the British troops enter New York after the troops of George Washington had left the town.

Edited by Chéreau, drawn by Habermann.