a fine view of the spectacular fireworks display mounted on 12th January, to celebrate the forthcoming wedding of Princess Maria of Saxony and Louis the Dauphin, son and heir of Louis XV, on 9th February, 1747. The elaborate architectural stage comprises a central grotto flanked by curving colonnades incorporating statues in niches, with steps leading down to an ornamental lake filled with dolphins and fountains, mirroring the roman candles and rockets exploding into the night sky above. Louis died in 1765 after fathering three future kings of France, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X.
mezzotint with etching on 2 sheets of laid paper, joined, 800 x 1170 mm. (31 ½ x 46 in), titled in French and German in matching cartouches in the upper corners, [Hennin 8569; Lotz, Das Feuerwerk, Leipzig, 1940, re-issued Dresden, 1978, p.93], [?Dresden], 1747.
A fine copy of a scarce print, found in the Collection Hennin in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, but not listed in the Getty Museum’s record of Incendiary Art.