75 x 75 (anamorphosis)
14.3 x 13 (cone)
Polished steel and painting on wood
INDEX 1788 : X.IV.385 / Z.V.385
Speculum metallicum conicum cum figura monstrosa in Tabula aequali superiori picta.
Conic metallic mirror with a monstrous figure painted on a board similar to the former.
19.4 x 15.9
Print coloured by hand
P.Mercier Pinxt./
/C.Spooner Fecit
INDEX 1788 : Y.IV.386
Tabellae duae, quae representant imagines binas veras, secundum quas delineatae fuerunt praedictae figurae deformes, altera pro speculo pyramidali, pro conico altera.
Two small boards which represent the two true images after which the previous distorted figures were composed, one in front of the pyramidal mirror, the other in front of the conic mirror.
The picture shows another anamorphosis also painted on wood which was designed to be observed through the surface of a conic mirror, made of polished steel, placed in the centre of the painting. This should be observed from the direction that passes through the vertex of the cone and perpendicular to its base.
The anamorphosis shows the distorted figure of a man, the Usurer, stretched along the entire surface of the painting.
A cone shaped wooden box, lined in leather also belongs to this assemblage, this being where the cone was kept when it was not in the centre of the painting. The mirrored cone is placed inside of another, slightly larger hollow cone made of tin plate.
The painting comes with a small engraving of the Usurer, where the following inscription exists:
"THE USURER"
From Widows and from Orphans drain'd,
Old Gripus hugs the Store he's gain'd;
Yet thinks his Money badly lent,
Unless he gets full Cent per Cent.
Printed for Carington Bowles in St. Pauls Church Yard, Londres.
P Mercier Pinxt, C. Spooner fecit.