List on ebay BOX 21-01-25 ST. PETERSBURG PALACE SQUARE RUSSIA 1760 MONDHARE ANTIQUE ORIGINAL OPTICAL VIEW ANTIQUE COPPER ENGRAVED OPTICAL VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG old times rare books and maps (20100) 100% positiveSeller's other itemsSeller's other itemsContact seller US $57.00 ST. PETERSBURG PALACE SQUARE RUSSIA 1760 MONDHARE ANTIQUE ORIGINAL OPTICAL VIEW Description Elevation Perspective de la nouvelle Place de Petersbourg suivant le projet determinйe au mois de Juin 1760. Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1760 Louis-Joseph Mondhare's copper engraved so-called optical view of the Palace Square at Saint Petersburg, Russia. Several inhabitants adorn the view. Reverse title at the top central side. Palace Square (Russian: ??????ґ??? ???ґ????, tr. Dvortsovaya Ploshchad), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. The earliest and most celebrated building on the square, the Baroque white-and-turquoise Winter Palace (as re-built between 1754 and 1762) of the Russian tsars, gives the square its name. Although the adjacent buildings are designed in the Neoclassical style, they perfectly match the palace in their scale, rhythm, and monumentality.[citation needed] The opposite, southern side of the square was designed in the shape of an arc by George von Velten in the late 18th century. These plans came to fruition half a century later, when Alexander I of Russia (reigned 1801–1825) envisaged the square as a vast monument to the 1812–1814 Russian victories over Napoleon and commissioned Carlo Rossi to design the bow-shaped Empire-style Building of the General Staff (1819–1829), which centers on a double triumphal arch crowned with a Roman quadriga. In the centre of the square stands the Alexander Column (1830–1834), designed by Auguste de Montferrand. This red granite column (the tallest of its kind in the world) is 47.5 metres high and weighs some 500 tons. It is set so well that it requires no attachment to the base. The eastern side of the square comprises Alexander Brullov's building of the Guards Corps Headquarters (1837–1843). The western side, however, opens towards Admiralty Square, thus making the Palace Square a vital part of the grand suite of St Petersburg squares. The Vues d'optique were specifically developed to provide the illusion of depth when viewed through a zograscope, also known as an "optical diagonal machine" or viewers with similar functions. Date: 1760 ( undated ) Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 42 x 23,7 Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains. Plate old original colored. Wide margins. Small foxing and browning. Conditions are as you can see in the images. Publisher: Louis-Joseph Mondhare (1734 - August 21, 1796) was a French engraver and publisher of maps, prints and vues d'optique active in the second half of the 18th century. Mondhare was born in Bougy (Calvados) and moved to Paris on or before 1759. He began publishing around 1760 under the Chez Mondhare imprint. On June 7 of 1784, his son-in-law Pierre Jean (1754-1829) joined the business and they changed their imprint to Mondhare & Jean. The Mondhare firm maintained their office in Paris on Rue St. Jacques, at the Hфtel Saumar, a well-known location for print sellers near St. Severin. Later they relocated to 32 Rue Saint-Jean de Beauvais. The firm ceased operation around 1796. Mondhare died shortly afterward in 1799. His name variantly appears on some imprints as Mondar or Mondhard.