Schröckenvolle Feurersbrunst welche zu Neu Yorck von denen Americanern in der Nache von 19. Herbst Monath 1776 angeleget–Representation du Feu terrible a Nouvelle Yorck, que les Americains allume pendant la Nuit du 19. Septembre 1776 (Representation of the terrible fire at New York, that the Americans lit during the night of September 19, 1776)
Franz Xavier Habermann German
Not on view
An imagined reconstruction of the fire that ravaged Manhattan during the British siege in September 1776, as part of the American Revolutionary War. Flames are shown engulfing large, elegant buildings lining a long street (perhaps intended for Broadway), as skirmishes take place and figures flee carrying their belongings. The architecture is derived from European sources and the print is part a series engraved in Augsburg and sold internationally. The title is engraved backwards because the works were intended to be shown on a wall or screen using a "magic lantern", an optical device that projected the image by means of candles and mirrors. A type of print are also known as a "Vue d'Optique."
