Cudowna Maszyna Optyczna Zograscope / The Wonderful Optical Machine Zograscope

Zograscope is an optical device made to generate the illusion of immaterial space and its projection from a flat picture. Zograscopes appeared in the 1740s and were used until the late 1830s. They are a type of devices called “optical diagonal machines”, classified today as “the early visual media”. The emergence of the zograscope was a turning point in the history of generating and projecting pictures because it opened the chapter of constructing devices to project immaterial 3D pictures. From the historical perspective, zograscopes were something more than a popular parlor entertainment. They embody the Enlightenment drive for seeking knowledge and improvement. The patrons and lovers of science gathered around the optical devices for 3D projection constructed by members of scientific societies supported by aristocratic patrons of art and science, who were collectors at the same time, which may have happened already in the second half of the 17th century. However, those devices were not in general use at that time. The situation changes in the 1740s when zograscopes became desired consumer goods of the English elites and the subject of industrial interest.