Snapshots of the Past

[Optical illusion disc with man and frog] – Antique Wall Art

[Optical illusion disc with man and frog], Haymarket, [London] : Pubd. by T. McLean, 1833. — antique lithograph
[Optical illusion disc with man and frog], Haymarket, [London] : Pubd. by T. McLean, 1833.. Antique lithograph from the Circus & Carnival collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this antique lithograph of [Optical illusion disc with man and frog]. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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[Optical illusion disc with man and frog]

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A frog sits in a ring at the center of this hand-colored disc, a man occupies the outer rim, and a ball appears to travel between them once the disc is spun. The effect depends on persistence of vision, the brief afterimage the eye retains, which blends the separate positions into a single moving scene. Thomas McLean, the London publisher credited on the disc, issued it in 1833 as part of a series of optical illusions, during a period when such devices were popular parlor entertainments. Its bright color and simple drawing show how these novelties were sold as amusements as much as demonstrations of how vision works.

Created / publishedHaymarket, [London] : Pubd. by T. McLean, 1833.
Medium1 print on disc : lithograph, hand-colored ; 24 cm.
GenreOptical toys English 1830-1840.Lithographs Hand-colored 1830-1840.
NotesThe disc is spun displaying the illusion of motion of a ball passing between a frog in a circle at the center of the disc and a man in a circle at the outer edge of the disc. Published in: McLean's optical illusions; or magic panorama. London, T. McLean, 1833. Exhibited: American Treasures of the Library of Congress.
SubjectsLocomotion--1830-1840. Optical illusions--1830-1840.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan4,711 × 3,781 px · prints to 16 × 13 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-221552

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