History of aeronautics. Airships. 7 watercolours depicting different types of airships, French, German and American.

Watercolours on paper, two of which are captioned in German. 29.8 x 21 cm Germany, with the zeppelin, the construction of which was initiated by the German Count (Graf) Ferdinand von Zeppelin in 1899. The patent showing the bases of what will be the model of Zeppelins for nearly a century will be filed in 1895 and constitutes a real break in the history of the airship: the rigid aluminum airship. Watercolour of the Zeppelin LZ11 ‘Viktoria Luise’ (1912) which served as a training ship (destroyed by accident in October 1915). The watercolour of the ‘Graf Zeppelin’ (LZ 127), one of the largest German airships, which, with its 236 meters length, crossed the Atlantic more than a hundred times between 1928 and 1939 and in 1929 completed a 34,000 kilometers long round-the-world flight in less than two weeks. On the French side, a watercolour representing the first steam-powered «airship», built in 1852 by Henri Giffard, which, despite its unprecedented performance, was not recognised as an airship. It was not until 1884 that the first airship earned its title. On the side of the American navy, a watercolour representing one of the largest and most powerful airships, a real flying aircraft carrier, carrying up to 5 jettisonable and recoverable fighter planes in flight.