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About this Item

Title

  • Horizontorium.

Summary

  • This lithograph shows a morphed view of the gothic Bank of Philadelphia building erected in 1808 to designs by Benjamin Henry Latrobe at the southwest corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets. The original drawing is by William G. Mason, whose perspective of the bank makes it look almost like a cathedral. The print is by John Jessie Barker (active circa 1815-60) and is the only known example of his work. A gate, lawn, and trees surround the building and a turreted outbuilding is visible on the property. Couples and a lady with a parasol stroll on the sidewalk. The Philadelphia Bank or Bank of Philadelphia (predecessor of the Philadelphia National Bank) formed in 1803 and was incorporated in 1804 as the unofficial bank of the commonwealth. The building was razed in 1836. The title "Horizontorium" refers to the optical game of this kind of picture. The semicircle below the legend marked the place for a paper tab with a pinhole to be pasted, which could be bent at right angles to the picture plane. The view through the pinhole corrected the distortion so that the subject reverted to normal proportions and perspective. Numerous English and French horizontoriums of the 18th century exist, but this is the only known American horizontorium print and one of only two known views of the bank building. The lithograph was published in 1832 by Richard H. Hobson, who in the early 1830s often published engravings in partnership with Childs & Inman.

Names

  • Barker, John Jesse, born circa 1785, active circa 1815-60 Lithographer.
  • Mason, William G. Artist.

Created / Published

  • Philadelphia : R.H. Hobson, 1832.

Headings

  • -  United States of America--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
  • -  1832
  • -  Architecture, Gothic
  • -  Bank of Philadelphia
  • -  Banks and banking
  • -  Lithographs
  • -  Optical illusions

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Digital catalog number: POS 360"--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 print : lithograph ; 55 x 42 centimeters.
  • -  Reference extracted from World Digital Library: John Jesse Barker, Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary, Library Company of Philadelphia, http://www.lcpdigital.org.|Library External Company of Philadelphia, Made in America: Printmaking, 1760-1860: An Exhibition of Original Prints from the Collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, April-June, 1973.|Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers, http://www.librarycompany.org/pos/posdictionary.htm. External
  • -  Original resource at: The Library Company of Philadelphia.
  • -  Content in English.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • Philadelphia on Stone

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021670201

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Barker, John Jesse, Born Circa 1785, Active Circa Lithographer, and William G. Artist Mason. Horizontorium. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1832. Philadelphia: R.H. Hobson. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670201/.

APA citation style:

Barker, J. J. & Mason, W. G. A. (1832) Horizontorium. Pennsylvania United States of America Philadelphia, 1832. Philadelphia: R.H. Hobson. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670201/.

MLA citation style:

Barker, John Jesse, Born Circa 1785, Active Circa Lithographer, and William G. Artist Mason. Horizontorium. Philadelphia: R.H. Hobson. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670201/>.