The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (March 1893)

The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. 49 Daguerre’s Lantern Effects without a Lantern. By W. H. Harrison. DAGUERRE was well known throughout Europe long before the invention of photography by Nicephore Niépce and himself was published to the world in 1839. He and Bouton were the inventors of the diorama, and in Paris set up the first one in 1822; it continued to be one of the leading attractions in that city, until the building was burnt down in 1839, shortly before what is known as the Daguerreo type process was made public. So great was the success of the diorama, that a year after its introduction, one was started near Regent’s Park, in London, in the Autumn of 1823, by Messrs. Morgan and Pugin, and another was not long afterwards started on a large scale in Berlin, by Carl Gropius, who, like Daguerre, was an eminent scene-painter for the theatres. By means of the diorama, sunlight effects could be changed under the eyes of the spectators, into those of moonlight, representations of accidents by flood, fire, or avalanche, could be given in a manner never before witnessed, and effects somewhat like those of dissolving views could be obtained. Says Gaston Tissandier, in his ‘History of Photography,’ when speaking of Daguerre’s diorama :—‘ That which especially excited the admiration of the spectators, was the gradual changing of the scenes, which appearcd, so to speak, to dissolve into one another, one following another without appreciable interruption ... . Onc contemplated for example, the Valley of Goldau, where fir trees crowned as with a diadem of verdure, the cottages of a humble village sleeping on the borders of a peaceful lake ; then suddenly the sky became gloomy, dark threatening clouds appeared, a violent concussion shook the mountain, the avalanche descended, impetuous, terrible, it rushed on the village, burying it in ruins; to the peaceful picture of but a moment before, had succeeded a dreadful scene of falling and crashing rocks in indescribable confusion.’ From polytechnic expericnecs we may imagine what banging of large tea-trays, and shaking of sheets of copper, went on behind the scenes while the rocks weve falling, for it was a rock avalanche, part of the top of the mountain slid down into the valley, and the Swiss think that there is more to fall hereafter. In the representation of the interior of a cathedral, Daguerre would first show it as by daylight, and with eipty seats; a dim religious light would then fall over the scene, followed by a deeper gloom; the figures of devotees would appear, lights send forth their radiance from the high altar, and from candles in the church, and the final cffect, combined with the solemn pealing of the organ, strongly impressed the spectators. The most celebrated of the dioramic effects produced by Daguerre and Bouton, were The Midnight Mass, The Landslip in the Valley of Goldau, The Temple of Solomon, and The Cathedral of Sainte Marie de Montreal. In each of these, day and night changes gradually stole over the scene, and in the Midnight Mass, human forms appeared in the cathedral. The scene of the destruction of a village in the valley of Goldau, already mentioned, is well known to most tourists, as it is Just behind the Rigi, and ai the foot thereof. Thus he produced the more striking effects sometimes now obtained by the aid of the magic lantern. The substance of his own explanation was, that the canvas is made exccedingly transparent by coats of size, and is painted on both sides. The first effect is painted on the face of the canvas, the second on the back thereof, and the observers sce either the one or the other, according to the illumination being from the front or from the back. In painting the back of the canvas, the artist must use no other light than that which comes through the canvas and through the picture on the front. Sometimes during the exhibition, both front and back lights are used at once to modify certain portions of the picture, and sometimes the rays for local illumination, are passed through coloured glasses, or other transparent media. Daguerre also knew the effect, when using one coloured light from the front, of its effect upon different colours of the picture, that is to say, that the pure red light of the spectrum will enhance the brilliancy of the reds in the picture, and will make the parts painted green look black. The preceding description of some of his methods, is condensed from particulars written by Daguerre himself, when he was given in 1839, a pension of two thousand francs a year, by the French Government under Louis Philippe, for revealing ‘The secret of the diorama.” As a matter of fact there was then not much in the way of secret to reveal, dioramas haying long previously been established in various cities in Europe. The diorama subject seems to have been made an excuse for awarding to Daguerre two thousand francs a year more than to Isidore Ni¢pee—the successor of his father, then deceascd--in the Ni¢pee-Daguerre partnership, yet without giving Isidore technical cause for complaint. In the act awarding the pensions, Niépee and Daguerre were given four thousand fraucs a year peusion each, for the invention of