Fireworks Gallery

Scenes in Egypt, 1820

The great ruins of the Colossi of Memnon in Luxor in south Egypt 73, raft of earthenware pitchers on the Nile 74, and women carrying water pitchers on their heads 74. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Rev. Isaac Taylor's Scenes in Africa for the Amusement and Instruction of Little Tarry-at-Home Travelers, Harris and Son, London, 1820

© Florilegius

The Palazzo Pazzi (Palazzo della Congiura or Palazzo Pazzi-Quaratesi

The Palazzo Pazzi (Palazzo della Congiura or Palazzo Pazzi-Quaratesi) - a Renaissance-style palace in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The architect of the palace was Giuliano da Maiano, though it has in the past been attributed to Michelozzo di Bartolomeo or Filippo Brunelleschi (as ascribed on this postcard). The Pazzi arms (top left) are attributed to Donatello. The Scoppio del Carro ("Explosion of the Cart") is also shown (lower left) - a folk tradition of Florence. On Easter Sunday, a cart, packed full of fireworks and other pyrotechnics, is lit and provides a historic spectacle in the civic life of the city. Date: 1902

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Fireworks on the River Seine, Paris

Fireworks on the River Seine, Paris, on the occasion of the marriage of Princess Louise Elisabeth of France (the eldest daughter of King Louis XV) to the Infante Philip, younger son of Philip V of Spain. She was 12, he was 19. One of a set of plates published in a large folio by P G Le Mercier, Paris, 1740. Date: 29 August 1739

© Mary Evans Picture Library