Adaptation of Vintage Artwork by Barbara Tomlin

Premier Descente en Parachute by Inventor Jacques Garnerin

Adapted from a gouache painting depicting André Jacques Garnerin's first successful parachute jump above Monceau Park in Paris, France on October 22, 1797. After ascending to an altitude of 3,200 feet (975 m) in an hydrogen balloon, Garnerin (January 31, 1769 - August 18, 1823) jumped from the gondola in a basket attached to a silk parachute. Because he had failed to include an air vent at the top of his parachute in the design, he oscillated wildly during the descent, causing quite a spectacle for the crowd watching from the park. He landed without incident approximately half a mile from the balloon launch site. He made his mark in history as the inventor of the parachute, a silk safety net designed to slow a person's fall from high altitudes.

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Please Note: The original work for this adaptation is part of the Bella C. Landauer Collection archived by the Library of Congress. Bella Landauer is recognized by historians and researchers interested in aeronautics for her extensive collection of sheet music, beginning from the earliest known aeronautical song published in 1785. Entitled Chanson sur le Globe Aerostatique, it depicts a Montgolfier balloon ascending from the Tuilleries in Paris. For more information on her aeronatical sheet music collection, visit the online digital exhibit presented by the Smithsonian. 

Bella C. Landauer (Mrs. I. Nathan Landauer; 1874-1960) is best known for her vast collection of business and advertising ephemera, the largest archive of which is owned by the New-York Historical Society. You can learn more about Mrs. Landauer and the historical significance of ephemera from the Ephemera Society of America.