2 Images
Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.

Object Details

Date

c. 1751

Type

ART-Prints, Original

Medium

Print, Etching on Paper, Uncolored

Artist

Louis Peter Boitard

Physical Description

Uncolored etching of a fantasy aerial battle. The scene shows one man aloft using two sticks with paddles on the ends as wings to fly. This is clearly a reference to the Swiss clock-maker Besnier who suggested just such an arrangement. Another man with small, broken, fan-like wings is hanging on to the other man's legs, as his wings are not working. A large crowd with classical clothes and odd hats is on the ground, watching. A large frog with baby frogs on its back is sitting in the foreground. Behind the frog is a large nautilus shell, and behind the shell is a cow with three eyes and six legs.
'L.P. Boitard Invt. & Sculp.' 'According to Act of Parliament 1751.'

Dimensions

Mat: 30.5 × 25.4cm (12 × 10 in.)
Unmatted: 20.8 × 15.2cm (8 3/16 in. × 6 in.)

Inventory Number

A20140668000

Credit Line

Gift of the Norfolk Charitable Trust

Data Source

National Air and Space Museum

Restrictions & Rights

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