Engraving

Work of the engraver John Young after a painting by John Hoppner called The Peep Show. It perfectly depicts the visual street spectacle of the peep show box, also called Mondo Nuovo, Tuttilimundi, etc. Travelling shows of this sort were very popular between the second half of the eighteenth century and the first third of the nineteenth century. It consisted of a wooden box inside which it was possible to observe, through a lens and through various plays of light, engravings called "optical views", with images of cities, monuments and landscapes from all over the known world. It was a show that allowed the spectator, in exchange for a certain amount, to "see the world through a hole", without moving from the town square. The entertainer, the owner of the show, gave the appropriate explanations to an engrossed audience, who looked at the images inside the box.