Diableries Stereocard: Retour des Courses en Enfer

Stereophotograph from the Diableries series, Retour des Courses en Enfer [Returning from the races in Hell], showing a demon (Satan?) accompanied by a woman in a carriage pulled by skeletons on bicycles, with skeleton spectators, published by Adolphe Block, 1868.

Les Diableries is the title of a series of stereoscopic photographs published in Paris during the 1860s. They feature scenes of daily life in Hell sculpted from clay by Louis Alfred Habert, Pierre Adolph Hennetier, and Louis Edmond Cougny. The subject matter was often satirical and commented upon the corruption and excess of Paris during the Second Empire, ruled by Napoleon III. A total of 72 scenes were published by Block.

The photographs were reverse coloured by hand, then backed with a layer of tissue paper and sandwiched between two double window cardboard mattes. For added effect, the eyes of the skeletons and various other creatures were pierced and dabbed with coloured paint, causing their eyes to glow red. The final product was then viewed through a stereoscope which produced a 3D effect.