Balthasar Friedrich Leizelt (also spelled Leizel, active 1750–1800) was a German artist and copperplate engraver working from Augsburg.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/London_Westminster_Bridge_Perspective_View.jpg/220px-London_Westminster_Bridge_Perspective_View.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Danzig_Rathaus_Guckkastenblatt.jpg/220px-Danzig_Rathaus_Guckkastenblatt.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Reichsdeputationshauptschluss_Compensation_Map_1803.png/220px-Reichsdeputationshauptschluss_Compensation_Map_1803.png)
Leizelt produced a series of European and American scenic views at a time when pictures of foreign countries and people were popular and designed for use in optical viewers. As is normal for these prints the series title is a mirror image because optical viewers made use of mirrors which reversed the image. The Age of Enlightenment sparked a great interest in science, so that optical toys and devices became a standard form of drawing-room entertainment in the 1700s and 1800s. Light, perspective, and multiple images were cleverly combined to create the illusion of moving pictures.[1] He also engraved maps.
References
editExternal links
edit