What magical feeling things hot air balloons are, and certainly they felt all the more so in the 1830s! I believe this is a slightly later lithograph of an 1837 wood engraving by British engraver John Thompson (1785–1866), described as the most distinguished wood-engraver of his time. It portrays the 1836 launch of the Royal Nassau Balloon from Vauxhall, in central London--a record-breaking 480-mile, 18 hour flight with three passengers, which stood as the longest air flight until 1914. With sky blue ground, and just the tops of green trees below, for me it really captures that sense of wonder--and also feels a bit as if documenting the appearance of a UFO! With tiny figures on board, two in the basket, and one in the parachute below.
Trimmed from the original print and mounted to board, with the text from the print kept attached. Then the whole thing was mounted to backing board.
Overall 11 1/4" x 7 1/2". Some surface wear and scattered stains, as evident, but aura-full and luminous feeling with that blue, lovely.
