Posted 8 years ago
AnnaB
(85 items)
I bought this old Magic Lantern glass slide at an antique store that was going out of business for $2.
It's signed "11015 Bruxelles Royal Palace" and produced by T.H. McALLISTER, Manufacturing Optician, 49 Nassau St., New York.
It's peculiar that one building on the photo looks to be purposely removed from the panorama...
Is it possible to identify the year or period of the slide? I see references on the internet ranging from 19th century to 1910.
Any thoughts? Thank you!
Interesting slide.
It is a Magic Lantern slide but unfortunately many are difficult to date. A quick Google search shows McAllister lanterns were around as early as the mid-1870s. You can probably dig a little deeper.
The Palace was refurbished around 1904. This slide of yours shows what was called the"Ancien Palais Royale".
You can read about that part of the history of the building here under the heading:
Extensions by Leopold II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Palace_of_Brussels
I think the photo was taken from a position on the Rue Royale Koningsstraat from a position that is a vacant lot these days. That statue of the young bloke stretching has gone but the urns on the fence in front of figures on the slide are still there at the Palais des beaux-arts, Bruxelles, 10 rue Royale.
It's around there that you get into the BOZAR the museum of Fine Arts these days.
Hey hold on ...... that's a negative image !!!!
How stupid am I ????
It was taken from the other side of the square.
That would be in Hertogstraat.
Actually there's an image the correct way round here:
https://salonvansisyphus.wordpress.com/tag/michiel-plaizier/
It's a drawing .... but it also shows the building that was blanked out !!
My apologies for all my incorrect statements above. !!!
The slide is by "J. Levy & Cie" though is it not?
In the Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography: A-I, index, Volume 1 page 852 they mention that J. Levy was in fact 'Moise Leon and Isaac Georges Levy' but after 1872 became "J. Levy & Cie". That gives some kind of beginning to a timeline. The photo would have been taken between 1872 and 1904 when the renovations on the palace took place.
There's more of the series taken in Brussels by Levy here:
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/early-original-1870-lanternslides-439144038
The cupola that you see behind the blanked out building is that of a neoclassical church located in the historic square of Place Royale called 'Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg' (French) or 'Sint-Jacob-op-Koudenberg' (Dutch).
I thought I was good at this, but, I'm still looking for the "blanked out building".
I think the blanked out building might well then be the Hôtel Bellevue.
Why would they have done that?
wow some wonderful history!!!
This is a postcard I have here on CW that concerns the Bellevue:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/127826-bruxelles--htel-de-belle-vue
blunderbuss I'm with ya -- I still haven't found the blanked out building. Love the images though!
MFT, I think Anna & Vetraio have a a piece of lint on their glasses in the same place! LOL!
Wonder who the guy is picking toe-jam ? LOL!
Vetraio50...wow...Thank you so much for this! This is a lot to research on. I don't even know if i have any questions at this point, you've provided more than i could think of asking about! Based on your suggestion that it's a negative, i flipped it and posted it in the correct way for a better idea.
Rhiederman, thank you for confirmation on the Magic Lantern, i'll adjust the title.
Blunderbuss, you are on a roll with this one =) Thank you for making me laugh on this cold, grey and overall not the best day!
Roy, Sean, MyFavoriteTreasures- thank you for your nice comments and loves, i really appreciate it!
Aura, NiceFice, OfficialFuel, Vetraio, Rniederman, Scott, Blunderbuss, Brunswick, Valentino, Manikin- thanks so much for your loves and stopping by!
Blunderbuss and MyFavoriteTreasures, i posted an additional pic with the blanked out building =)
Anna, thanks! I'd have NEVER found that; shoot, it took me several minutes even with your guidance!
I think you can actually date the photo to before 1874. The reason being that the fence that you see in the middle ground was reconstructed in 1874 with additions of scupltures by Auguste Rodin that survive today.
Vetraio50, thank you so very much again for your input on this slide. Your knowledge is truly impressive! That is some really amazing history i had no clue about. Still wonder why the building is blanked out but this will probably remain a mystery.
Trey, Rick, Hunter, Katherine- thank you for stopping by and appreciation!
What's strange is that the Hotel de Bellevue was the focus of all the fighting that took place there on the four days of 23rd-26th September 1830.This led to the creation of Belgium.
The façade facing the Parc de Bruxelles ended up riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel. But that damage was actually fixed up almost immediately.
The Bellevue became a national monument (memorial) at the end of the fighting.
For that reason alone it should have remained ..... unless there was a slide that featured a view of the Hotel itself. I'm probably just being fanciful here.
I have seen several other slides at the link above but none of them feature the Bellevue.
Mind you there is one of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg' (French) or 'Sint-Jacob-op-Koudenberg' among that set of ten at the link above:
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/early-original-1870-lanternslides-439144038
Vatraio, thank you again! I now realize i have a special piece of history- for only $2! =)
I couldn't find a good Magic Lantern Show video on Youtube. One showed what I wanted to see-- the show-- but was partially cut-off on one side and of low quality.
The rest were documentaries on them or ads for them or how to make your own slides.