The ''Eidophusikon'' () was a piece of

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, no longer extant, thought up by the English actor

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1716 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, Actor-manager, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil a ...

and created by 18th-century

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

painter

Philip James de Loutherbourg Philip James de Loutherbourg, RA (born Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg; 31 October 174011 March 1812) was a French-born British painter who became known for his large naval works, his elaborate set designs for London theatres, and his invent ...

. It opened in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

in London in February 1781. Described by the media of his day as "Moving Pictures, representing Phenomena of Nature", the ''Eidophusikon'' can be considered an early form of movie making. The effect was achieved by mirrors and pulleys. The Eidophusikon consisted of a large-scale miniature theatre that tried to recreate the perfect illusion of living nature: sunrise scenes, sunsets, moonlight images, storms, and volcanoes from all over the world, with sound and music effects. The sound and light effects of the Eidophusikon, compared with the shows seen until that time, were especially inventive by virtue of their realism.

Reconstructions

In 1973 John Ronayne ARCA designed and built a working reconstruction of the Eidophusikon for an exhibition of de Loutherbourg paintings at Kenwood House, London, now managed by English Heritage. It was built by Harry Lacock, the House craftsman, with Ronayne and colleagues at the Royal College of Art responsible for the modelmaking and electronic animation. It was set in motion manually (by House staff) and featured a moving cloudscape (painted linen, backlit, travelling between two large rollers), and the rising of the Palace of Pandemonium with an animated model of Satan haranguing his troops - as depicted in the Francis Burney watercolour. The whole performance took about 10 minutes, accompanied by harpsichord music by Thomas Arne and a spoken script base on Milton's Paradise Lost. In 2004 a reconstruction was designed by Robert Poulter built by Wolkenbilder at the Altonaer Museum Exhibition (cloud images) at Jenisch Has,

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. It was a full-sized theatre with two scenes on the basis of Loutherbourg: from dawn to sunset over the

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, and a Mediterranean scene with a lighthouse, moonlight, storms and wrecks. In 2005 another version also designed by Robert Poulter for the

Yale Center for British Art The Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare ...

, New Connecticut and California's

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...

, to recreate a display for the English painter

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...

of his collection 'Sensation and sensibility'. Gainsborough was a great admirer of the Eidophusikon. This full-size version was built in conjunction with Kevin Derkin and the Yale technical department under Rick Johnson. The scene, this time, was 'Satan and the Creation of the Pandemonium Palace in Hell', by the poet

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

from his ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

''. A small exhibition on the Eidophusikon and the work of

was held at the

San Marino, California San Marino is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2020 United States census the population was 12,513, a decline from the 2010 United States census. History Origin of name Th ...

in 2006. The exhibit featured a working example of an Eidophusikon with docents working the levers. In 2006, an Eidophusikon was created by Robert Poulter for the Nouveau

Musée National de Monaco The New National Museum of Monaco (NMNM), formerly Musée National de Monaco (), is a museum of contemporary visual art in Monaco. It is situated in two locations, the Villa Sauber and the Villa Paloma. The museum began organizing temporary exhibi ...

. Another Mediterranean scene was created with a volcano, moonlight, a storm and a shipwreck. This Eidophusikon is part of the permanent collection of the museum. A full Eidophusikon, described also as a "small, mechanical theatre", was on display from June to November 2014 at the exhibition "Underworlds" (Unterwelten) in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

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References

External links

Sensibility and the Cult of Special Effects

* An Eighteenth-Century Movie Show. Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University, Canberra, 2006. 3D digital recreation of an eidophusikon demonstratio

an

Active German Eidophusikon in Dortmund, Germany (June--October 2014)
(German text)
Video of German active Eidophusikon in Dortmund, Germany

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eidophusikon Lost works of art 1781 works History of film Audiovisual ephemera

Reconstructions

See also

References

External links