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Michel Lefrançois De Lalande
Michel Lefrançois de Lalande (21 April 1766 – 8 April 1839) was a French astronomer. Biography He was the son of Jean Lefrançois, first cousin of Joseph Jêrôme Lalande, Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande, astronomer. He took the name of his cousin Brother Jerome, by order of the Court of the Seine on 13 June 1837 and became Le François de Lalande him and his descendants. Jérôme de Lalande took Michel to Paris after the holidays of 1780 and immediately initiated him into his favorite study, that is, telescopic observation techniques, despite having the satisfaction of seeing him take an interest in them. Two years later, Michel's observation of a total lunar eclipse earned him the honor of seeing it published in the magazine ''journal des savants'' . . On 27 September 1788 he married Amélie Harlay, Marie-Jeanne Harlay, born in Paris in 1767, daughter of Jean François Harlay born in 1730 and Anne Cany born in 1744. She was also an astronomer and calculator, and on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physionotrace
A physiognotrace is an instrument, designed to trace a person's physiognomy to make semi-automated portrait aquatints. Invented in France in 1783–1784, it was popular for some decades. The sitter climbed into a wooden frame (1.75m high x 0.65m wide), sat and turned to the side to pose. A pantograph connected to a pencil produced within a few minutes a "grand trait", a contour line on a piece of paper. With the help of a second scaling-down pantograph, the basic features of the portrait were transferred from the sheet in the form of dotted lines to a copper plate, which had previously been prepared with a ground for etching. One week later, the sitter received an etched plate and twelve little prints. The device but also the aquatint prints are called physionotraces. History In 1783–1784, the Frenchman Gilles-Louis Chrétien invented the "physionotrace" to aid in the production of silhouette portraits, which became popular during the reign of Louis XVI. Within a few minutes, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
