Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759–1817), George Biggin's Ascent in Lunardi's Balloon, c. 1785/88;

Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek

The decisive step from humanity's dream of flying to actually flying was linked to the discovery of gases in the eighteenth century. Following the attempts of the Montgolfier brothers in 1783 near Paris, the whole of Europe was in the grip of balloon mania. The landscape painter Ibbetson shows here the flight of George Biggin in a hot-air balloon built by Vincenzo Lunardi whose costly plans he had supported financially.