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Or magic lantern, is a device for projecting translucent images coloured by hand on glass, which dates back to the 17th century? It was a precursor to the slide projector and cinema, having fulfilled various functions over the years: optical toy, entertainment instrument for the home or for the masses at street fairs, and an educational resource in academic circles and other social activities. It essentially consists of a dark chamber with a lens attached to the front, containing condenser lenses inside, a mirror that reflects forward the light that, in the past, was emitted by a flame (candle, gas, kerosene, etc.), by a calcium carbide lamp or by the sun and, at the end of the 19th century, by the electric lamp. The glass plates, which usually contained mythical or supernatural illustrations, were placed in a groove between the lens and the condensers, thus projecting them onto a white wall or through a thin screen. Single images could be projected or a sequence that tells a story, sometimes enlivened with primary animation effects through mechanical movements operated by levers, masks on the glass plates, optical movements of the lens and small puppets. For the impressionable minds of the past, it could be a truly terrifying spectacle, especially when they were unaware of the technology that lurked in the shadows behind the screen, from which monstrous apparitions appeared accompanied by ghostly sound effects.

The Madeira Photography Museum has some magic lanterns, three of which are on display. In the images that illustrate this text, we see one of these examples, specifically a lampascope (a magic lantern designed to sit on a domestic oil lamp and thus use its light) that was manufactured by Parisian Louis Aubert, ca. 1880, as well as a set of hand-coloured translucent glass plates, which were projected by these devices.

Photographs by Marco Gonçalves.

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Credits: Madeira Photography Museum - Atelier Vicente's.

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