Print, Etching on Paper

A satirical print commenting on the Vaisseau Volant, presumably the projected flying machine of J.P.F. Blanchard. The craft was inpired by a peddle-powered velocipede that Blanchard designed, built and tested prior to his interest in ballooning. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, comic prints often employed balloon motifs to lampoon society and well known individuals. In this case, we can assume that the artist intended to ridicule the very idea of a heavier-tha-air flying machine. Caricature-vide Sun Evening Paper