Of the early pioneers in the art of motion pictures, Émile Reynaud is the first to have successfully combined the engineering capability of inventing an apparatus that could display images faster than a human eye could perceive and the projection of these images to a wider audience with, most significantly, the artistic ambition of creating a new medium for entertainment. Starting in 1877 and culminating with his exhibition of the Praxinoscope at the Universal Exposition in Paris in May 1878 [1] , he tirelessly created multiple drawings for his invention. These artworks fall into three main overlapping categories: ordinary actions of humans and animals, circus performances, and displays of popular games and sports in the 1870s. As an ensemble, these proto-animation works constitute the dawn of motion pictures as the seventh art. It took over a quarter of a century for Ricciotto Canudo to coin the new cinematic medium as "plastic art in motion" [2] in 1911, when both films and animations gained sufficient popularity to deserve distinct categorisation. What we see in Reynaud's early output contains all the ingredients necessary for that definition. To assess this, we shall analyse one of his most ambitious productions, namely The Steeple-Chase from his third series of strips for the Praxinoscope. Understanding the achievements of this work and its significance in the history of film requires reviewing the evolution towards it in the preceding strips. In the first series, we encounter a young lady playing with fish in The Aquarium , a chef preparing a chicken in The Roaster , a young girl blowing bubbles in The Soap-bubbles , and a young man playing the tambourine in Dzing. Boom. Boom! . These images follow the pattern established by other pioneers who emulated movement through the rapid rotation of stroboscopic discs. The central characters perform ordinary actions, allowing viewers to focus their attention at the centre of the canvas and track the movement of various body parts. Similar features appear in The Baby's Breakfast and The Smoker in subsequent series of strips. These works are mere reproductions of real motion, with varying degrees of artistic achievement. The circus performances in The Juggler , The Learned Dogs , The Tight-rope Dance , The Trapeze and The Clowns focus not only on movement reproduction but on performance in their own right, as the audience consumes the act in motion not as mere curiosity but as entertainment. The displays of popular games further enhance sport's appeal in engaging an audience through observation. The Skipping-Rope , Battledore and Shuttlecock and The Game of Graces are, in effect, moving advertisements for those games. Nevertheless, all of the above works confine the action within the frame of the drawing, allowing continuity to be expressed only through localised repetition. The breaking of the frame's constraints is first witnessed in The Lady Swimmer , as the gaze of the central character constantly extends beyond the limits of the painting with each stroke of the arms and legs. The Lady Rider completely abandons these limits as the sportswoman moves in and out of the visible frame with each trot of her horse. The constant return of the same character reminds the viewer of the techniques used in shadow plays, which essentially treat the canvas as a stage where performance is limited to character entry and exit. To achieve this effect, Reynaud moved the action horizontally in a linear fashion before adding the frame separators. The Steeple-Chase expands on the lessons of The Lady Rider by incorporating multiple performers. The central point of the drawing is in constant flux, as the viewer's eye moves simultaneously across the canvas while remaining fixed at the centre of the image enjoying the spectacle. This shifting of perspectives parallels Eadweard Muybridge 's set-up of linear horizontal cameras placed to capture the movement of the horse in real life, whilst allowing the final action to be projected with the gaze focused solely on the centre of the image. Muybridge used the Zoopraxiscope, a slight refinement of Reynaud's Praxinoscope, to exhibit Sallie Gardner at a Gallop in 1880 [3] , but it is arguably unlikely that The Steeple-Chase was an inspiration, despite preceding the Palo Alto experiment by approximately a month. Curiously, Reynaud depicted his horses with all four legs in the air in his drawings, a fact that Muybridge subsequently confirmed with certainty [4] . Indisputably, the timing of both productions places The Steeple-Chase at the heart of the race to create moving images. However, whilst the historical coincidence is fortuitous, timing alone provides insufficient reason to celebrate it as a key work of cinematic archaeology, especially given the twenty-seven previous animations Reynaud had already produced. Admittedly, the technical combination of linear image shift with the maintenance of central compositional focus was achieved in this work for the first time, and therefore it merits due recognition. The additional reason this work is essential to the history of moving images lies in its subject matter. Reynaud's drawing of the steeplechase race appears only four years after the inauguration of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in 1874 [5] . The emerging popularity of the sport would have resonated with the contemporary public. Reynaud's work functions not merely as an exercise in motion but as a record of actual events. Prior to the discovery of film, animated drawings were the only means of using moving images to document actual sporting events in motion. Even after film's discovery, it was not unusual for film pioneers to restage actual events and present them as documentary evidence. More than any other of his works, Reynaud here demonstrated the potential of moving images to capture history in motion. Reynaud's masterpiece ultimately stands as the first example of defining the medium of moving pictures as a source of entertainment, both for its ability to reproduce entertaining events and for generating public enjoyment through repeated viewing. The Praxinoscope and subsequent projecting devices became desirable products for consuming entertainment, effectively reducing the necessity of attending individual events to experience them. The Steeple-Chase exemplifies how its apparent simplicity achieved such important milestones in how technology shapes our appreciation of life. References: [1] Neupert, Richard. French Film History, 1895-1946 ; p. 10. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2022. [2] Pervez, Saima. Film and Visual Communication: Exploring the Art and Language of Cinema ; p. 14. New Delhi: The Readers Paradise, 2023. [3] Herbert, Stephen. " Projecting the Living Image " in Eadweard Muybridge: The Kingston Museum Bequest , edited by the Kingston Museum and Heritage Service; p. 115. Hastings, East Sussex: The Projection Box, 2004. [4] Bekey, George A. Autonomous Robots: From Biological Inspiration to Implementation and Control ; p. 304. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: The MIT Press, 2005. [5] Vamplew, Wray & Kay, Joyce. Encyclopedia of British Horseracing ; p. 133. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2005.

Animation sits at the heart of the history of moving pictures. Prior to the 19th century, all attempts at displaying images in motion were essentially drawn images in sequence. The true precursors to the craft, however, appeared in 1833 with the first stroboscopic device by Joseph Plateau, later known as the Phenakistoscope [1] . Numerous other toys followed suit, finally maturing with William Ensign Lincoln and Milton Bradley's Zoetrope in the 1860s [2] . The Zoetrope allowed the projection of moving images to a single spectator at a time, except that movement was always interrupted by the blind spot of the device. The apparatus exploited the illusion of motion provided by the stroboscopic effect and supported by the ability of the human eye to retain images in memory [3] . It is tempting to credit the scientists above and their fellow contemporaries [4] working in the field with the invention of animation, however, that honour has to be bestowed onto Émile Reynaud . His Praxinoscope improved on the previous Zoetrope-like machines by replacing the stroboscopic disc at the base of the toy with a circular basin. "A twelve-sided prism was chosen, with an ordinary mirror attached to each face. The center of this prism [was] fixed to the center of a kind of circular basin. [...] A strip of heavy paper, bearing a series of equidistant images, [was] easily placed on the inner vertical wall of this basin" [5] , allowing the images to burst into life in the projected mirrors, uninterrupted by any other obstruction. The spectacle could also be enjoyed by multiple people simultaneously, as they sat around the toy. In practice, the Praxinoscope offered the first genuine exhibition of images in motion with a strip called The Aquarium at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in May 1878 [6] . To achieve the illusion of motion, the paintings follow a loop, either linear or spiral, or a combination of the two [7] . Upon the rotation of the Praxinoscope, the twelve paintings speed into action, thus generating the desired effect to the human eye. Reynaud had showcased multiple strips since 1877, all featuring living beings in various scenes in motion. The resemblance to daily reality of these moving images would have impressed contemporary audiences, with one reviewer calling it "a charming and entertaining optical toy" [8] . Amongst these works, one particular animation stands apart from the others. Featuring only geometric patterns, The Magic Rosette awes viewers with its depth of artistic ambition. Predominantly using the linear effect in a spiral, Reynaud drew a sequence of quatrefoils converging on a central node on a background of concentric coloured rings diverging out of the observable frame. The bidirectional movement of the elements creates a highly vivid tableau, with the rosette pulsing into life in a universe beaming with light. Émile Reynaud was destined to become the inventor of a toy showing animated images in motion, the later invention of the Optical Theatre in the late 1880s sealing his importance in the history of cinema [9] . As the child of an engineer and an artist [10] , Reynaud's education included both in-depth knowledge of natural sciences as well as painting. In the context of analysing The Magic Rosette , this background becomes an intriguing aspect to explore. From building steam engines at the age of thirteen to inventing new optical toys twenty years later, Reynaud's scientific and engineering credentials are easy to find. By the age of thirty, he established himself as a credible specialist giving scientific lectures in both Paris and in his ancestral home of Le Puy-en-Velay. Furthermore, his early interest in photography exposed his true passion of combining physics with art. And art is the reason why Reynaud's work stands the test of time. Had his contribution been merely of a technical nature, his name would have been lost in the footnotes of cinematic archaeology. What these early strips show is a tremendous attention to visual detail, a deep understanding of colour, and most importantly they all display painterly skill. The Magic Rosette is a perfect example of all three of these aspects. The geometric details are combined with an effective use of colour combinations that elevate each movement into a vibrating spectacle. The illusion of movement is generated through the exploration of all the geometric patterns that the Praxinoscope strips allow. This setting also provided Reynaud the opportunity to use the full canvas of the strip, thus completely liberating the moving image from the constraints of previous projection devices. The overall effect resembles the optics of the Kaleidoscope [11] and that of the Chromatrope [12] , two products invented within half a century prior that would have been familiar to the French artist, and therefore we can assume they were a source of inspiration for this work. The three inventions unite here to provide a platform to a completely new medium, the world of animation. The symbiosis of animation and kaleidoscopic optics inadvertently created an early form of representation of reality through abstractionism. The rosette is magic in the sense that it resembles a flower, and yet, it acts as a star folding onto itself. Our eyesight is focused onto the central node as both a source of implosion for the star and a source of explosion for the rings of light. This play of colours invites interpretation and a search for meaning. For instance, the rosette could be imagined as a symbol of the human mind trying to attain unity with the divine. This is not a far-fetched idea if we consider Reynaud's background as a Catholic artist witnessing as an active spectator the industrial revolution. In a lecture from 26 April 1877, Reynaud argued: "Yes! This science truly elevates human genius. But above all, it transports us to the very heights of the visible throne of Divinity." [13] . This vision of using scientific knowledge as a passage towards fulfilment stirs up imagery similar to that imagined by Dante in the epilogue of Paradiso : "one circle seemed reflected by the second, / as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third / seemed fire breathed equally by those two circles" [14] . The coloured rings act as the trinity towards which the magic rosette ("the scientific human genius") gravitates to unite in the central node. The metaphor is potent, placing The Magic Rosette among the earliest works of art in motion. We may not have much evidence regarding the exact intention behind Reynaud's animation, however, as meaning does not reside purely within the prison of the creator's mind, the freedom for interpretations allows for readings that could elevate simple imitations of the Chromatrope into a jewel of proto-animation archaeology. In his quest to develop animation, Émile Reynaud led the way towards the possibility of developing meaning within frames trapping moving images inside them. References: [1] Marey, Étienne-Jules. Movement ; p. 306. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1895. [2] Coe, Brian. The History of Movie Photography ; p. 32. London: Ash & Grant, 1981. [3] Tissandier, Gaston. “ Le Praxinoscope ” in La Nature: Revue des sciences et de leurs applications aux arts et à l'industrie, Septième année, 1879, edited by Gaston Tissandier; pp. 133-134. Paris: G. Masson, Editeur, Libraire de l'Académie de médecine, 1879. [4] Willoughby, Dominique. “ Voir et concevoir le mouvement cinématographique, ou quelques destins d’une illusion ” in Hybrid: Revue des arts et médiations humaines - Journal of Arts and Human Mediations, 02/2015 , OpenEdition Journals permalink . Saint-Denis: Presses universitaires de Vincennes, 2015. [5] Charton, Édouard (editor). Le Magasin Pittoresque: Quarante-septième année, 1879 ; pp. 228-229. Paris: Le Magasin Pittoresque, 1879. [6] Rossollin, Edouard . L'Exposition universelle de 1878 à Paris, Groupe IV, Classe 42: Rapport sur la bimbeloterie ; p. 18. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1880. [7] Odoux, Christelle. “ Boucles et répétitions animées - Des jouets optiques à l'animation contemporaine”  in Bulletin de Liaison n°47 - Septembre 2011 , edited by Christelle Odoux, permalink . Haut-Doubs: Les Amis d’Émile Reynaud, 2011. [8] Tissandier, Gaston. “ Le Praxinoscope ” in La Nature: Revue des sciences et de leurs applications aux arts et à l'industrie, Septième année, 1879 , edited by Gaston Tissandier; p. 134. Paris: G. Masson, Editeur, Libraire de l'Académie de médecine, 1879. [9] Lonjon, Bernard. Émile Reynaud, le véritable inventeur du cinéma ; p. 176. Polignac, Haute-Loire: Éditions du Roure, 2007. [10] Myrent, Glenn. “ Émile Reynaud: First Motion Picture Cartoonist ” in Film History, Vol. 3, No. 3 ; p. 191. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1989. [11] Cochrane, Robert. The Treasury of Modern Biography: A Gallery of Literary Sketches of Eminent Men and Women of the Nineteenth Century ; p. 232. London & Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo, 1878. [12] Robinson, David & Stephen Herbert & Richard Crangle (editors). Encyclopaedia of the Magic Lantern ; pp. 65-67. London: The Magic Lantern Society, 2001. [13] Reynaud, Émile. “ Clôture du cours de sciences naturelles ” in Les Cours publics au Puy-en-Velay dans la presse locale , edited by Christelle Odoux; permalink . Haut-Doubs: Les Amis d’Émile Reynaud, 2011. [14] Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso , translated by Allen Mandelbaum; p. 540. New York & Toronto: Everyman’s Library, Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

The history of viewing images in motion is nearly two millennia old. It started with Ting Huan's 'pipe which makes fantasies appear' [1] , an early version of the zoetrope developed in 180 AD under the Han Dynasty, and the camera obscura, dating from the 6th century experiments of Anthemius of Tralles [2]  in the Byzantine Empire. However, most of the devices were developed during the Industrial Revolution, which included Étienne-Gaspard Robert's Fantoscope [3] , John Ayrton Paris' Thaumatrope [4] , Joseph Plateau's Anorthoscope and Phenakistiscope [5] , Simon von Stampfer's Stroboscope [6] , William George Horner's Zoetrope [7] , Franz von Uchatius' Kinetiscope [8] , Alexander Parkes' Parkesine [9] , Samuel Goodale's Stereoscope [10]  and Coleman Sellers II's Kinematoscope [11] . The key to all of these devices was their ability to project images in motion, but what was still lacking was the ability to capture images in motion. The development of photography from Louis Daguerre [12]  onwards had allowed the potential for shooting images in motion, yet it took as late as 1878 for the first successful experiment to take place. The British photographer, Eadweard Muybridge , set the scene by aligning twenty-four cameras in order to take successive pictures of a horse ('Sallie Gardner') in motion. The final result, exhibited in 1880 using his Zoopraxiscope, showed the world a horse galloping, uninterrupted, thus shattering the illusion of the static photograph for the very first time. While Sallie Gardner at a Gallop  is not technically a film in the traditional sense as established by Le Prince a decade later, it still inherits the key ingredients that give us a flavour of the medium. Despite not being filmed from one point of view, using a single device to take consecutive pictures, the final result was nonetheless aimed at being viewed from a single point of view. Muybridge's experiment proved that human perception is limited in its ability to identify the missing images of time and space unless the final result is 'close' enough to reproducing reality. Zeno of Elea's Arrow Paradox [13] , still central to the film's role in the reproduction of motion, was made evident here for the very first time. Each frame of the film image is in essence a motionless photograph, and therefore the concatenation of any other image, irrespective of how 'close' in time and space it was taken, should therefore produce nothing but a motionless image. Alas, film, ever since Eadweard Muybridge, has taught us otherwise. The irony of Sallie Gardner at a Gallop  is that audiences were able to see for the first time images that they were unable to distinguish with the bare eye. Leland Stanford sponsored the project precisely because he could not see whether or not a horse lifts all four legs while galloping. The slowed-down image presented by Muybridge made it possible to observe life moving at 58 km/h. The discovery thus laid down the foundation for all the visual tricks the cinematic world was to bring throughout its history in order to distort our perception so that we confuse it for reality. Throughout his subsequent career, Muybridge exploited the same technical means of capturing images in motion by filming a variety of animals and humans, thus contributing to the expansion not so much of film as a medium, but rather of our knowledge of zoology and anatomy initially, and more specifically locomotion. His research at the University of Pennsylvania led to the creation of over 100,000 images, all contributing to a substantial body of work in the field for both the university and Muybridge himself, allowing him to position himself not only as a photographer, but also a scientist in his own right. Muybridge's interest in locomotion would not have gained such prestige over time, had it not been for the continuous sponsorship he received for his projects. With Sallie Gardner at a Gallop , we witness the key factors that contribute to the creation of film as a viable industry. First and foremost, Stanford's investment acts as an early indicator for the necessity of a producer in the making of a film, the individual in charge of managing the finances for the project and also responsible for the selection of the content, as well as the hiring of the key staff such as the director, editor, and production designer. In this particular case, Stanford oversaw the setup of the shooting location at Palo Alto Stock Farm, providing all the key technical resources, but also selecting the key actors for the experiment. What is important, however, is that he gave Muybridge the freedom to specify precisely the requirements for how the set was to be designed, to identify the correct apparatus he needed, as well as control over how the final film would appear. In essence, we see the origins of the dynamic relationship between artistic freedom and financial constraints that was to mark how the film industry developed over the years. 'A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a filmmaker an army' said Orson Welles [14] . From the very early stages in the development of the film medium we notice that this statement was accurate. Unlike some of the other early experiments in motion pictures, Sallie Gardner at a Gallop  was, if successful, aimed at public consumption, and with this we notice both an investment in terms of technical capacity in the project and also in artistic value. Muybridge's photographic work in the 1870s gained enough artistic recognition to incentivise Stanford to opt for a director who was capable and, most importantly, popular. The media reaction that followed did not treat the film merely as a scientific breakthrough, but it is arguably the clarity of Muybridge's images that allowed for a successful reception in the first place. With this in mind, we can conclude that the artistic value in a film is not paramount, but it serves as a key ingredient towards the satisfaction of viewing it. The variety of uses of the film medium, from fiction to documentary evidence (which in itself expands into the realms of science, sport and arts, to name just a few), has highlighted over the years that more successful works tend to have an artistic visionary behind them, one who elevates the work to create a more enjoyable experience. The director, if they are artistically minded and are given the freedom to exploit their talent, becomes the force that can potentially translate any material into a work of art. For some, Sallie Gardner at a Gallop  is just some footage of a horse running on a track. Others, as in the case of this reviewer, see it as an important milestone towards the development of film as an art form. References: [1]  Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China ; Volume 4: Physics and Physical Technology , Part 1: Physics ; p. 123. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962. [2]  Huxley, George Leonard. Anthemius of Tralles: A Study of Later Greek Geometry ; pp. 6-8, 44-46. Cambridge: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 1959. [3]  Stafford, Barbara Maria. Imaging the Unseen in Enlightenment Art and Medicine ; p. 377. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1993. [4]  Paris, John Ayrton. Philosophy in Sport, Made Science in Earnest; Being an Attempt to Illustrate the First Principles of Natural Philosophy by the Aid of the Popular Toys and Sports ; pp. 5-6. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1827. [5]  Herbert, Stephen. A History of Pre-Cinema , Volume I ; p. xxi. London: Routledge, 2000. [6]  Bendazzi, Giannalberto. Animation: A World History ; Volume I: Foundations - The Golden Age ; p. 13. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2016. [7]  Bak, Meredith A.. Playful Visions: Optical Toys and the Emergence of Children's Media Culture ; p. 39. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2020. [8]  Leeder, Murray. " Visualizing the Phantoms of the Imagination ". Projecting the Haunted Minds of Modernity in Cinematic Ghosts: Haunting and Spectrality from Silent Cinema to the Digital Era , edited by Murray Leeder; p. 51. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. [9]  Inkster, Ian. Highly Fraught with Good to Man: Patent Organisation, Agency, and Useful and Reliable Knowledge in British Machinofacture Circa 1780-1851 and Beyond in History of Technology ; Volume 31 , edited by Ian Inkster; pp. 135-136. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2012. [10]  Goodale, Samuel D. Stereoscope, U.S. Patent No. 31,310 - Samuel D. Goodale - 5 February 1861 . Alexandria: United States Patent Office, 1861. [11]  Zone, Ray. Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838-1952 ; p. 31. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2014. [12]  Bankston, John. Louis Daguerre and the Story of the Daguerreotype . Vero Beach: Rourke Publishing, 2006. [13]  Aristotle. Physics , translated by Robin Waterfield; pp. 161-162. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. [14]  Bach, Steven. Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate ; p. 7. New York: William Morrow & Co, 1985.