Le Marchand de Lunettes RMG L9476, Isidore Stanislas Helman, 1776

Le marchand de lunettes engraved by i. St. Helmann, 1776, after a painting by jean baptiste le prince of 1773, this print depicts the buyer being cuckolded by the telescope seller while he looks through one of the telescopes on sale. This was a common image that linked the idea of the virtuoso distracted from earthly goings on by his other-worldly pursuits with the evident phallic possibilities of the telescope. A similar image was produced in the early nineteenth century by thomas rowlandson (see zba4569). Print - le marchand de lunettes. Date: 1776. Dimensions: Sheet: 486 x 356 mm. Collection: Fine art.