18th Century Spectacles & Eyeglasses
Last updated: Jan 7, 2024
A description of the wearing of spectacles, from The Annals of Philadelphia:
Even spectacles, permanently useful as they are, have been subjected to the caprice of fashion. Now they are occasionally seen of gold — a thing I never saw in my youth; neither did I ever see one young man with spectacles — now so numerous! A purblind or half-sighted youth then deemed it his positive disparagement to be so regarded. Such would have rather run against a street post six times a day, than have been seen with them! Indeed, in early olden time they had not the art of using temple spectacles. Old Mrs. Shoemaker, who died in 1825 at the age of 95, said that she had lived many years in Philadelphia before she ever saw temple spectacles — a name then given as a new discovery, but now so common as to have lost its distinctive character. In her early years the only spectacles she ever saw were called “bridge spectacles,” without any side supporters, and held on the nose solely by nipping the bridge of the nose. Such as these, were first invented in 1280. What a time for those “eyes were dim with age!” before that era! happily, they had no reading then to manage.
Likewise, from the Spirit of the Republic Journals for 1802:
In the laſt century, to wear ſpectacles was regarded as an unequivocal mark of wiſdom. The noſe which bore them was always that of an informed perſon — the eyes to which they tranſmitted the ſoftened rays of light were ſuppoſed to have been dimmed by much reading — and the head which they decorated, and to which they imparted a certain venerable air, muſt of courſe have been occupied by profound meditation and ſtudy. Towards the end of the century, young men adopted the same faſhion, it being thought as dangerous to ſee, as it was of advantage to be dim-ſighted. So prevalent at length was this faſhion of wearing ſpectacles become, that many perſons whoſe eyes were excellent took to wearing them, uſing only the precaution, leſt they ſhould injure their ſight, of firſt taking out the glaſſes! Thus they conformed to the eſtablished mode. But at preſent ſpectactles ſeem to have returned to their primitive uſe, and to be worn only by thoſe who have really an occaſion for them.
Pages elsewhere on this site focus on tinted spectacles of the 17th & 18th centuries, and eyeglasses and spectacles from the 14th-16th centuries.
- MoV 1984.000.00595, iron, 1740-1750
- MoV 1984.000.00480, c. 1740-1780
- MoV 2003.012.00013, dark iron with square lenses, c. 1750
- Colonial Williamsburg 1952-487,A, “Circular lenses in tortoiseshell rims which are set in a steel frame with hinged flat temples with a folding extension to go behind the head, terminating in a closed loop,” England, c. 1750-1775; see also “Martin’s Margins” below
- Martin’s Margins, London:
MoV 1982.000.00331, 1750;
MoV 1999.024.00022, c. 1750;
also Martin’s Margins at the American Optometric Association.
Further reading: A New and Compendious System of Optics (by Benjamin Martin, 1740), and Benjamin Martin and His Visual Glasses. - PVMA MH.F.278, c. 1760-1780; “The lenses are round and the earpieces terminate in rings, probably to accept a ribbon to tie at the back of the head, for securing the glasses.”
- MoV 1989.020.00013, made by William Frisbee in 1794
Nose spectacles (“bridge spectacles”)
- DHM AK 92/139, c. 1700
- Rijksmuseum BK-NM-864-A, hinged spectacles (and Rijksmuseum BK-NM-864-B, silver case) belonging to Willem Credo, made in the Netherlands before 1733
- Friederike Charlotte, Countess of Stolberg-Gedern by Franz Lippold
- Madame Crozat by Jacques-André-Joseph Aved, 1741
- MoV 1988.057.00005, “simple black baleen frames with an arch bridge,” 1750
- Old man with spectacles and beret by Johann Christoph Busch, mid-18th century
- Mary Adam by Allan Ramsay, 1754
- c. 1771 self-portraits of Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin (Louvre RF 31748 & INV 25206); a 1779 self-portrait (INV 25207) shows similarly shaped frames, but with temples attached
- Heyday! Is this my daughter Anne!, 1779
- MoV 1999.024.00040, “silver frame has round lenses and is riveted at the bridge so that one lens folds over the other for storage in the case,” c. 1780
- The Fortune Teller, 1798
Double folding frame spectacles
- MoV 1984.000.00383, forged iron, c. 1740-1780
- MoV 1986.000.00852, steel, England, 1750
- PMA 1910-64, steel, America
- MoV 1987.000.00871, c. 1770-1800
- MoV 1988.012.00074, with round-rimmed green lenses, c. 1775
- MoV 1984.000.00386, with dark green glass lenses, c. 1780-1800
- PVMA 1904.14.03, with green-tinted lenses, c. 1780-1790
- Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Martha Saunders Salisbury by Christian Gullager, 1789
- MoV 1988.044.00005, 1790
- Self-portrait by Francisco de Goya, c. 1797-1800
- MoV 1988.012.00176, c. 1800
- MoV 1988.015.00001, coin silver, c. 1800
Scissor spectacles
- MoV 2003.005.00747, horn, 1770-1780
- MoV 2003.005.00743, tortoiseshell, c. 1780
- MoV 1999.024.00007, tortoiseshell, c. 1790
- MoV 1982.000.00069, gold-plated, c. 1800
Turn-pin spectacles
- PMA 1908-11, steel, with round lenses, America
Lorgnettes
- Gilai OIS629, “an Adams Style Lorgnette made in England under the name ‘Pocket Spectacles,’” late 18th century
Cases
- RL-93, a steel flip-top case, c. 1727-1760
- MoV 1984.000.00383, brown papier-mâché, c. 1740-1780
- MoV 1988.057.00005, “shagreen case is shaped like the spectacles, and is open at the top to insert the frames,” 1750 -->
- Colonial Williamsburg 1982-154, probably Birmingham, England; “hinged steel spectacles case with interior traces of red japanning; exterior engraved ‘James Perry / Hooper / St. Jno. Baptist / Parish Bristol / 1772’”
- MoV 1999.024.00040, mother-of-pearl case for a pair of riveted spectacles, c. 1780
Additional 18th century depictions of people with eyewear
- The spectacle-maker, Jeremias Wolff
- Friederike Charlotte, Countess of Stolberg-Gedern by Franz Lippold
- The Wedding from The Rake’s Progress by William Hogarth, c. 1732-1735
- Madame Crozat by Jacques-André-Joseph Aved, 1741
- The Marriage Contract from Marriage à-la-Mode by William Hogarth, c. 1743-1745
- The Sense of Hearing by Philippe Mercier, 1744-1747
- Old man with spectacles and beret by Johann Christoph Busch, mid-18th century
- Old man with spectacles by Thomas Frye, 1760
- High Life Below Stairs by John Collet, 1763
- Benjamin Franklin by David Martin, 1767
- John Cuff by Johan Joseph Zoffany, 1772
- The Mutual Embrace, 1774
- Benjamin Franklin, 1777
- Self-portrait by Anna Dorothea Therbusch, 1777
- Self-portrait by Anna Dorothea Therbusch, c. 1780
- Thomas Payne with his family and friends by Louis François Gérard van der Puyl, 1787
- Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Jane Strachey, c. 1788
- Martha Saunders Salisbury by Christian Gullager, 1789
- A Merchant’s Office by Thomas Rowlandson, 1789
- Self-portrait of Rienk Jelgerhuis, 1791
- At an Auction of Pictures Cornhill by John Nixon, 1792
- Maternal Advice, 1795
- John Quick ad Tony Allspice by Samuel de Wilde, c. 1796
- Admiral Peter Ranier by Arthur William Devis