Читать книгу Pyrotechnics. The History and Art of Firework Making онлайн

27 страница из 52

The Italians appear to have held the supremacy until the end of the seventeenth century.

In the book of Artillery by Diego Ufano, written in 1610, we read that only very simple fireworks were made in his time in Spain and Flanders, consisting of wooden framework supporting pots of fire wrapped round with cloth dipped in pitch, but that more than fifty years before magnificent spectacles could be seen in Italy.

In 1615, on the occasion of the marriage of Louis XIII, a display was given at Paris in the Place Royale, in which were included combats between men carrying illuminated arms.

In 1606 the Duc de Sully gave a spectacle which depicted a battle between savages and monsters, the former throwing darts and fire. A similar display had previously been given on the occasion of the entry of Henry II into Rheims, and it was repeated in 1612.

These spectacles, which are quoted as firework displays, cannot rightly be considered as such, fireworks playing a comparatively secondary part in the exhibitions.