Ballooning history – Isidore-Stanislas Helman after Louis Watteau, 1785

“La Quatorzieme Experience Aerostatique de M. Blanchard, accompagné du Chevalier Lepinard faite à Lille en Flandre, le 26 août 1785.” Copper engraving made by Isidore-Stanislas Helman (1743-1811) after a painting by Louis Watteau (1731 – 1798). Coloured by a later hand. Size (scene): 28.2 x 42.8 cm (platemark: 34 x 45,5 cm.)

This lively engraving captures the dramatic fourteenth balloon flight of Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a pioneering French aeronaut, accompanied by the Chevalier Lépinard. The ascent took place on August 26, 1785 in Lille, Flanders, and attracted a massive public audience, depicted here in meticulous detail.

The military formations, elegant spectators, and curious townspeople, emphasize both the scientific importance and the theatrical spectacle of early ballooning. Above the crowd, Blanchard’s striped hydrogen balloon rises gracefully into the sky, its success a symbol of Enlightenment ambition and public fascination with human flight.

Blanchard had begun his aerostatic experiments in the wake of the Montgolfier brothers’ invention. By the time of this flight, he had already crossed the English Channel by balloon and gained international renown.

Blanchard strongly favored hydrogen gas over heated air for his flights. While the Montgolfier brothers had pioneered hot-air ballooning, Blanchard was part of the rival camp led by Jacques Charles, which developed balloons filled with hydrogen. These were considered more controllable and capable of longer flights, albeit more complex and dangerous due to the inflammability of hydrogen.

Although this was not the largest or most technically ambitious flight of the era — earlier ascents, such as that of Charles and Robert in Paris in December 1783, had drawn even larger crowds, with this scene painter Louis Watteau, official artist of the city of Lille, seized on the opportunity to document his city’s participation in modernity, not just the balloon itself.

Literature : J.E. Darmon (1929) “Dictionnaire des Estampes & Livres Illustrés sur les Ballons & Machines Volantes, des débuts jusques vers 1880”, p.70.

Price: Euro 650,-