Getting some Perspective

Great little collection on show at the Museum of the History of Science, Perspective: an English View.  A rare opportunity to see a selection of 18th and 19th Century English instruments for drawing in perspective. The exhibition includes a portable drawing machine by James Watt (see image).


The James Watt device was mounted on three legs, and consisted of a box which opened out to form a flat surface, with an adjustable arm holding an eye-piece.


Jointed parallel rulers mounted beneath the board held both a brass point and a pencil, used to trace and sketch the object to be reproduced. The whole device could all be folded up.


The exhibition also includes a copy of Thomas Malton's A compleat treatise on perspective... who's frontis piece displays a fascinatingly surreal engraving of eighteenth century gents wandering around large dodecagon objects.