Francesco Rossetti bought this slide for the Cabinet of Physics of the University of Padua on 5 August 1876, together with other slides, now lost.

Maker: Jules and Alfred Molteni, active from 1863 to 1876.

Date: 3rd quarter 19th century

Description

The slide represents a lighthouse and was used for didactical projections.

Founded in 1782 in Paris by B. Molteni (probably Joseph Antoine Balthazar Molteni called Molteno, died in 1808) the “Maison Molteni” collaborated with Louis Daguerre in the years 1830-1840, achieving his first devices. It was managed throughout time by different members of the Molteni family, and took the name “J.&.A. Molteni” in 1863, when Jules Molteni associated himself with his nephew Alfred. After Jules’ death in 1876, Alfred Molteni led the workshop alone until 1899, when the firm was merged with Radiguet & Massiot, thus giving birth to one of the main workshops of scientific apparatus in France. Alfred Molteni (1837-1907) published in1878 in Paris a booklet entitled Instructions pratiques sur l'emploi des appareils de projections, where he enlightened the didactical potentialities of magic lanterns. He also published in 1884 a catalogue with the magic lantern slides he prepared, both colored and black and white. These dealt with different topics, many of them connected with fairy tales. The Molteni workshop was very well-known and appreciated at the time for his production of high quality magic lanterns and glass slides, which he also sold to schools and universities.

Inscription

Collections scientifiques pour l'enseignement par les Projections. J.&A. Molteni

Inscription

Coupe d'un Phare 80

Materials and techniques: glass

Dimensions: width 10 cm, length 8,5 cm, depth 0,2 cm

Related scholars: Francesco Rossetti (b.1833 – d.1885). Professor of Experimental physics at the University of Padua between 1866 and 1885.

Keywords: optics, pre-cinema

University of Padua, Museum of the History of Physics

Cat. Number: 983

Bibliography

• Alfred Molteni, Instructions pratiques sur l'emploi des appareils de projections, Paris, 1878