Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.10232
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    Flight of a Montgolfier balloon

    Date
    1783
    Creator
    Nicolas Delaunay (1739 - 1792, French) , Engraver
    After
    Etienne Lorimier (1759 - 1813, French)
    Object type
    Library reference
    38890
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 198mm
    width (print): 123mm
    Subject
    Content object
    transport
       > balloon
    Description
    View of a Montgolfier balloon being launched on a first flight at Versailles, France carrying a sheep, a rooster, and a duck. The balloon test lasted approximately eight minutes and was conducted before an audience that included Louis XVI, whose support for such experiments was being solicited.

    Frontispiece plate from the book Description des expériences de la machine aérostatiques de MM.de Montgolfier, by Faujas de Saint-Fond (Paris, 1783). Inscribed below: “Expérience faite à Versaille, en présence de leurs Majestés et de la famille royale, par M. Montgolfier, le 19 Septembre 1783. La machine aérostatiques avoit 57 pieds de haut, sur 41 de Diametre.” [Event made by Mr. Montgolfier at Versailles in the presence of their Majesties and the royal family, September 19, 1783. The aerostatic machine was 57 feet high, and 41 feet in diameter]. “Dessine par le Chr. De Lorimier. Gravé par N. De Launay. “

    Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (1740-1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (1745-1799) were inventors and pioneering balloon aeronauts.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > France
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