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Figure 2. The Graphie Telescope with a drawing table
There is some documentation about other "camere
lucide", designed and realized by physiques and opticians
in Europe. In particular, in Italy, between 1817 and 1825,
Giovanni Battista Amici, a very famous optician of
Modena (Italy), realized 273 "camere lucide". One of
them, was better than Wollaston's one and had a larger
field of view and a good resolution (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Some optical scheme of the camera lucida
Other optical instruments were realized in Milan by Luigi
Consonni and Giuseppe Mozzoni, and in Venice by
Giuseppe Selva.
In the XIX century, Giovanni Battista Amici collaborated
with Francesco Carlini, the astronomer and director of the
Brera Observatory for a long period who took part in many
important geodetic and surveying experiences. They
developed the model of a "camera lucida" applied to a
telescope (Figure 4) and used it to draw some panoramas
in North Italy.
Another example is the Teleiconograph of Revoil (French,
1869), which was nothing more than a Wollaston's
"camera lucida" applied to a terrestrial telescope and
mounted on a stand in the style of a theodolite.
Figure 4. Amici's camera lucida realized for Carlini
3. THE PANORAMAS
Francesco Carlini was a very poliedrich man and gave a
big contribute at the geodesy and cartography. He tested
the technique of "camera lucida" to survey hilly
landscapes. In 1817, Carlini had the opportunity to study
Keller's panorama of the mountains surrounding the
Duomo of Milan; this panorama was obtained only by
means of a telescope. Carlini validated the accuracy of
this drawing, comparing the position in the panorama of
some points with the position obtained from azimuth and
zenith measurements. He found a standard deviation of
one degree between the two sets of measurements,
confirming that Keller had drawn his panorama, using
angles approximately measured on a Topographic Map.
Being an astronomer, Carlini studied the real possibility to
realize panoramas and some years later did experiments
with the telescopic "camera lucida", thanks to the
progress in this field. In one of his documents, Carlini
showed the possibility of obtaining more perfect
panoramas with the system of Daguerre, using its
capability to acquire objects of dim light, like mountains,
observed from a long distance.
Therefore the "camera lucida" can be considered the
precursor of the photographic system.
For sure, during the geodetic campaigns in 1821 -1822,
Carlini drew the panorama of Mont. Rosa from the
Observatory of Turin (Italy), using Amici’s "camera lucida"
applied to a small telescope. A copy of this panorama
(Figure 5) was found in the Archive of Brera; it was
collected in "Der Mont. - Rosa Eine topographische and
naturhistorische Skizze" book, edited in 1824 by Ludwig
Freihern von Welde in Vienna.
