Unattributed "Vue de la Place des Victoires À Paris"

Unattributed.  "Vue de la Place des Victoires À Paris." Paris: Basset, ca. 1750-1800.  Approx. 10 x 15 (image).  Engraving.  Original hand color.  Very good condition.   Perspective views, or vues d’ optiques, are a special type of popular print published in Europe during the eighteenth century. These prints were a form of entertainment meant to be seen through devices called "optical machines," "optiques," "zograscopes" or "peepshows."  The prints were exhibited by traveling showmen in the streets throughout Europe and also were collected by those in the professional and upper classes who had the optical machines at home. There was a great curiosity about the appearance of unvisited European cities and exotic locations in the further reaches of the globe, and these prints were one of the only ways the general public could get a look at the wider world. When displayed in the optique, the prints were able to transport the viewer into a faraway place, an unknown city, or perhaps into the