Fireworks are great to see and experience. Capturing a still image of fireworks with photography is easy to do, especially with modern cameras and smart phone cameras that do a lot of the work in their powerful software getting the exposure and frame rate correct, so all you do is click the button. But consider this, before the wide use of cameras, it was something of an unusual subject for an artist to depict fireworks. They are full of action and motion, often happening very quickly in a dark or night sky. It is therefore fascinating to see how various artists have done this over the years. Check out our gallery of some great visualisations of fireworks created by artists that are either the main focus or incidental to the main subject. Which art work conveys them the best way and which one makes you feel like you are there?
Firework celebrating the opening of the Brooklyn Suspension New York, USA, 24 May 1883 Chromolithograph by Currier and Ives. Credit: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
Painted glass for perspective box, garden pavilion with fountains and fireworks. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
A View of ye Grand Theatre & Fireworks erected on ye Water near ye Court at ye Hague (on Occasion of ye General Peace concluded at Aix la Chapelle. Oct. 18. 1748) & Exhibited June 13, 1749, 1794, Etching. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
A View of the Temple of Concord Erected in the Green Park, to Celebrate the Glorious Peace of 1814, Exhibiting the Fireworks on the 1st of August, September 9, 1814, Etching and engraving, hand colored, Plate. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Coronation of Alexander II, Moscow, September 17, 1856: Fireworks Display before the Cadets’ Building, 1856, Color lithograph. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
The Grand Display of Fireworks and Illuminations at the Opening of the Great Suspension Bridge Between New York and Brooklyn on the Evening of May 24, 1883. View from New York Looking towards Brooklyn. Color lithograph. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
The Girandola at the Castel Sant’Angelo. Designed and hand colored by Louis Jean Desprez, Etched by Francesco Piranesi (Italian, Rome 1758-1810 Paris). Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
A Fireworks Display, John Wilson Carmichael, 1799-1868, British, Pen, black ink, watercolor and white gouache. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Firework Performance in Covent Garden in 1690, unknown artist, 1809, Aquatint. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Fireworks in the Place De La Concorde, 1852. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Valentine Feast, Cut paper on wood frame, Magic lantern slide, optical toy. (At top, three sprays of fireworks. On lake, two boats with fireworks). Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Palace Garden with Fireworks, Cut paper on wood frame, Magic lantern slide, optical toy. Savoy, France, ca. 1780. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Garden Pavilion, Cut paper on wood frame, Magic lantern slide, optical toy. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Painting by Louis Delaporte produced during his two-year venture (1866-68) with the Mekong Exploration Commission sponsored by the French Ministry of the Navy. Credit: Pictures From History 
Utagawa Hiroshige, fireworks in Ryogoku, sheet 98 from the series: 100 famous views of Edo, color woodcut. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Standing woman with fireworks and servant, draughtsman: anonymous, India, 1750 – 1770, paper. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group 
Illumination and fireworks in Hamburg on the Alster in honor of the King of Prussia, 1869, Germany. Credit: Bildagentur-online/Universal Images Group 
Firework Display at the Castel Sant Angelo, 1774-1778. View of Rome at night with St Peter’s and the Vatican lit up in the background. By Joseph Wright of Derby. Credit: Sepia Times/ Universal Images Group 
La Girandola. Fireworks from Castel S. Angelo in Rome, Ippolito Caffi, 1809-1866, No earlier than 1830 – No later than 1840, Painting. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group
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