Accession No
1134
Brief Description
Set of 12 magic lantern slides of Biblical subjects, by W & S Jones, English, late 18th C
Origin
London; England
Maker
W & S Jones
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1770
Latest Date
1800
Inscription Date
Material
wood (mahogany, one other); glass
Dimensions
slide length 476mm; breadth 110mm; thickness 6mm (thickness of slide 12: 10mm) box length 510mm; breadth 130mm; height 125mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from R.S. Clay, 1952.
Inscription
‘W & S Jones’ (all slides except 2, 10 and 11)
Description Notes
12 slides scenes from Biblical stories. Paintings signed by either Martin or Westall.
Slide 1 with four panels: introductory panel; ‘Church service’; ‘The Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters’; ‘God dividing light from darkness’.
Slide 2 with 3 panels: ‘The Serpent tempting Eve’; ‘Expulsion of Adam and Eve’; ‘Cain about to slay his brother Abel’.
Slide 3 with 3 panels: ‘The assuaging of the flood’; ‘Noah’s first sacrifice’; ‘The Tower of Babel’.
Slide 4 with 4 panels: ‘Abraham & the three Angels’; ‘Destruction of Sodom &c.’; ‘Hagar & Ishmael in the wilderness’; ‘Abraham offering up his son Isaac’.
Slide 5 with 4 panels: ‘Rebekah at the well’; ‘Esau sells his birthright for a mess of pottage’; ‘Isaac blesseth Jacob’; ‘Jacob’s vision of the Ladder’
Slide 6 with 4 panels: ‘Jacob wrestling with an angel’; ‘Jacob giveth Joseph a coat of many colours’; ‘Jospeh’s two dreams’; ‘Joseph’s brethren put him in a pit’.
Slide 7 with 4 panels: ‘Reuben at the pit lamenting the loss of Joseph’; ‘The coat of many colours brought to Jacob’; ‘Joseph sold to Potiphar’; ‘Pharaoh’s dreams’.
Slide 8 with 4 panels: ‘Joseph expoundeth Pharaoh’s dreams’; ‘Joseph’s brethren bow down before him’; ‘Joseph meeting Jacob’; ‘Jacob blessing Ephraim & Manasseh’.
Slide 9 with 3 panels: ‘Moses found in the bulrushes’; ‘Moses & the burning bush’; ‘Moses on mount Sinai’.
Slide 10 with 3 panels: ‘Votaries dancing round the Golden Calf’; ‘Moses breaking the Tables [sic]’; ‘The Cedar of Lebanon’.
Slide 11 with 3 panels: ‘Mount Ararat’; ‘The Dead Sea’; ‘The Sprinkling of Blood’.
Slide 12 has single panel with moving front plate; back plate provides a background sea view; front plate shows the pillar of fire, the Israelites passing through on dry land, and ‘Pharaoh and his host drowned in the Red Sea’.
[Slides except for 2, 10 and 11 numbered sequentially on front panel]
Wooden box with sliding lid; marked ‘Scripture Subjects 1’. Reverse of lid carries list of slides with subjects, for box 2.
Condition good; complete.
References
Events
Description
Magic lanterns are an early type of image projector. They use a powerful light source to project images onto a screen or wall. They were the precursors to modern slide, overhead and motion picture projectors. Although first developed in the 17th century, it was in the late 18th and 19th centuries that the design of the instrument became developed enough to make magic lantern shows a popular form of general entertainment and scientific and artistic education.
The basic elements of a magic lantern are a metal or wooden body, a light source, a condensing lens, a focusing lens, and interchangeable slides that were commonly produced in sets. Early lantern slides were hand painted on glass, but by the late nineteenth century a number of companies were mass producing slide sets utilising photographic transparencies. Hand cranked mechanisms were sometimes also built into the slides to produce elaborate animated effects. Slide sets might show recent events, exotic locations from around the world, or illustrate tales and fables. For scientific lecturers, the magic lantern was an invaluable instrument for illustrating their public talks, enabling the projection of spectacular astronomical images or massive diagrams of plants and animals.
03/04/2014
Created by: Joshua Nall on 03/04/2014
FM:44414
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