John Jesse Barker
Horizontorium

LithographerAmerican, born c. 1785, active c. 1815–1860
PublisherPhiladelphia
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Horizontorium
Date1832
PlacePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
MediumLithograph
DimensionsSheet: 22 5/8 × 17 5/8 in. (57.4 × 44.7 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Mrs. James Anderson, Jr. in memory of her husband, James Anderson, Jr.
Object numberB.96.16
Non exposé

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
DescriptionThis so-called horizontorium print presents an extremely distorted view of Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s Gothic-style Philadelphia Bank of 1808. This distortion, a technique called anamorphosis, requires that the viewer have a specific, oblique perspective on the image to see it correctly. Though horizontorium prints became popular in Europe as a type of optical novelty, this is the only American example known.
ProvenanceAcquired Oct. 21, 1996, from Jonathan Greenberg, NYC
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscription: Printed lower left: "HORIZONTORIUM/From the original Drawing by Wm. Mason,/in the possession of Charles N. Bancker Esqr./Philadelphia: Published by R.H. Hobson 147 Chestnut Street./Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1832 by R.H. Hobson in the District of Pennsylvania." Printed center below image: "Drawn on Stone by J.J. Barker"

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