Image Projector In Paul Sandby's Laterna Magica

The painting above is named ‘Laterna Magica’ painted by Paul Sandby who was an English topographical watercolorist and graphic artist in 18th century. Paul Sandby was known for his modern landscape paintings in watercolors, and was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in London. The painting describes a scene of several men and women staring at an image of a battle field created by a magic lantern, an early type of image projector, on the wall. Though this painting is not a well-known art piece, nor did the painter use much exquisite drawing skills on it, there are imperceptible interesting details hidden in the scene. The picture on the wall is projected by a projector. The first image projector that was able to project a painted image on a surface was widely considered invented in the late 17th century (Pfragner 226), which was around the beginning of the age of Enlightenment. The invention and the later advancement of image projector during the 17th and 18th century is an example of the scientific development during the Enlightenment, which explains why here it is used for analyzing the role of science in the Enlightenment. Scientific development was more than a field that invented novel objects and provided people with surprising accessories in daily life. It challenged the traditional authority by helping to spread new ideas and new theories. It tried to encourage people to think on their own by …show more content…
The role that science played in the process of the Enlightenment will be discussed, focusing on the effect science brought upon reason or