Magic lantern pose slide showing two figures embracing in the moonlight. Crack to glass.

Pose slides offer complete scenes that are designed to be thrown onto large, flat, white screens in a traditional way. The most common images tend to be picture postcard like representations of familiar foreign landmarks or exotic destinations. Each slide will have a central figure represented in costume only; that is to say, missing all the facial features (the entire head), sometimes arms and legs and in the case of classical nude figures the entire body. All human elements were to be supplied by the pose artist, who stands on a white plinth on an exact spot, centre stage.