Nikolas Hogenberg
The Procession of Pope Clement VII and the Emperor Charles V, 1530
2000.PR.50

Charles V was crowned King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII in Bologna. Hogenberg's hand-colored etchings depict the procession that followed the imperial coronation in S. Petronius cathedral on 23 February 1530. Pasted onto a continuous fabric scroll, the prints show the impressive parade of noblemen, representatives of the imperial provinces, military and clerical officials. Beneath a canopy decorated with the imperial eagle, the emperor and the Pope are followed by units of the imperial army and their captains in armor, ending with a bank of unmanned cannons. The last three prints depict the distribution of food and drink to the people of Bologna. The crowd gathers around a tall arch topped by the imperial eagle flanked by two lions from whose mouths flow red and white wine. Stewards turn the spit, roasting an ox stuffed with birds and small animals.

Optical box with slides, 1860 Voyage où il vous plaira
93.R.118

Named for the German experimental filmmaker who formerly owned the collection, the Werner Nekes collection of optical devices, prints and games charts the nature of visual perception in modern European culture at a time when optical devices such as the magic lantern evolved from instruments of natural magic to forms of entertainment. Most of the items date from the mid-18th century to the early 20th century. The collection contains rare items such as a French camera obscura (ca. 1750), as well as popular images like 19th-century magic lantern slides, paper silhouettes, and greeting cards with moving parts. Other items include an 18th-century peepshow, prints depicting a variety of optical devices and phenomena, ca. 100 megalographs, a camera lucida, a Lorrain mirror, a zograscope, anamorphosis watercolors accompanied by a cone viewer, and more than 20 collapsible Engelbrecht theaters.