The drawings were acquired by Simone Stratico between 1777 and 1798, or by Pietro Zuliani between 1798 and 1804. They were catalogued for the first time by Salvatore Dal Negro in 1807 as “Six cardboards with monstrous figures, serve for one of the cylindrical concave mirrors” (Dal Negro, 1807)

Engraver: Joseph Friedrich Leopold, b.1668 - d.1726. Flourished at Augusta between 1690 and 1720.

Date: between 1690 and 1720

Description

The drawings represent six animals heavily deformed: a leopard, a rabbit, a horse, a deer, an elephant, a cat. The original mirror that allowed to see the corrected images of the drawings is lost.

The drawing representing the leopard is signed “Jos. Frid. Leopold excudit”. The author, Joseph Friedrich Leopold, was a German engraver and art publisher, born in Verleger in1668 and died in Augusta in 1726. Father of the more well-known Johann Christian, painter and engraver, he was well-known for his maps and his views of German and European towns. Some of his engravings are kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and in other museums and galleries in Germany and abroad.

The drawings owned by the Museum of the History of Physics in Padua were achieved between 1690 and 1720, when the activity of Leopold flourished. A similar series of drawings is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Materials and techniques: paper/cardboard

Dimensions: width 6,5 cm, length 32 cm

Related scholars:

Simone Stratico (b.1733 - d.1824). Professor of Experimental physics at the University of Padua between 1777 and 1798 / Pietro Zuliani (b.1739 - d.1804). Professor of Experimental physics at the University of Padua between 1798 and 1804 / Salvatore Dal Negro (b.1768 - d.1839). Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Padua  from 1806 to 1839.

Keywords: optics, pre-cinema

University of Padua, Museum of the History of Physics

Cat. Number: 987

Bibliography

• Salvatore Dal Negro, Inventario delle macchine, stromenti, ed altri effetti esistenti nel Regio Gabinetto di Fisica Sperimentale, diretto dal Sig. Professore Ab. Salvatore Dal Negro, formato l'anno 1807 [Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "Galileo Galilei"]