This print presents a European artist’s imagined view of the New York fire of September 19, 1776. The hand-colored print depicts several buildings (the original New York Stock Exchange, the original Kings College, and Trinity Church, among others) along a street fully engulfed in flames at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street. The print portrays great inferno that destroyed as many as 1,600 homes, churches, and schools in the British-occupied city during the American Revolution. The scene depicts British soldiers, dressed in their signature red coats, beating the city’s panicking inhabitants while others, portrayed as enslaved Africans, loot the blazing buildings.

Perspective views (or vues d’optique), like this one, were a type of print published in Europe during the 18th century and a form of entertainment meant to be seen through devices called optical machines, optiques, zograscopes, or peepshows. Their use of perspective lines make them visually playful and historically fascinating. The prints were exhibited by traveling showmen in the streets throughout Europe and were collected by those in the professional and upper classes who had the viewing devices at home.