Fresh off the UPS truck came the much anticipated Starry Night magic lantern glass slide. I don’t, as a rule, don’t bid very much on eBay unless it’s a really unusual and special item, and when this popped up about a month ago, I decided to take a whirl. In my search for all things Starry Night I've become familiar with much of the merchandise out there, but this item I'd never seen before.
The slide consists of a photographic print of the painting on transparent plastic, sandwiched between two solid glass squares held together by neat strips of copper tape. As can be seen by the photo, the copper tape has discoloured on the outside, as copper does. What cannot be seen in the photo is that the plastic print has stuck itself to the forward-most glass sheet, making the image appear uneven. This would not affect viewing in a magic lantern. It's difficult to determine in the transparent print is actually fade from use and age, of it the print was not of exceptional quality to being with - the yellow, particularly, lacks the punch of the original.
Of course, being square means that it does not include the entire original. One star is missing to the left of the cypress and the moon is not visible at all. Lacking the moon, the painting becomes rather dark and ominous - I'd trade that one star for the moon any day.
Despite all the apparent flaws I've listed, it is still a nice piece and I'm glad to have something in my collection that hasn't been mass-produced on a truly epic scale.
WHAT: pre-1950 Magic Lantern Glass Slide - photographic print of original artwork.
HEIGHT AND WIDTH: 7.9 cm/3.11 inches square.
THICKNESS: 4 mm / 0.16 inch.
MATERIALS: glass, copper tape, transparent plastic.
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