This print is by François Habermann, a German printer and publisher working in Augsburg, Germany, known for a series of engravings portraying American cities, including New York and Boston, during the Revolutionary period. While some of these optical views are based on first-hand drawings, often they are entirely fictitious and originally published for a European audience with no specific knowledge of American cities. Here, the artist presents an imaginary view of Old South Congregational Church, the third church built in Boston, and a cannon is being hauled into the foreground. Unlike the church pictured, Old South had a tall steeple. Notably, the church was often the scene of many patriotic meetings in the years immediately preceding the War of Independence.

This special type of popular print was used as a form of entertainment meant to be seen through devices called “optical machines” or “zogoscopes.” The striking use of perspective lines in these optical views make them visually playful as well as historically intriguing. The main title is printed at top as a mirror image; when viewed through the optical machine it would appear correctly. Optical views were often exhibited by traveling showmen and were known to entice Philadelphians by 1797.