While Andre-Jacques Garnerin was in prison, another inmate dreamed of surprising the "vigilance of sentries" and overcoming "walls 10 feet thick" by jumping "from the ramparts without being injured." Garnerin did not escape but he did design, test and demonstrate the first parachute. On October 22, 1797, Jacques Garnerin ascended to an altitude of 3,200 feet in a hydrogen balloon.

In a planned event, he jumped from his balloon and was the first person to use a parachute and descend safely from a high altitude. Under the balloon, he had arranged a small basket, topped with a silk canopy. Garnerin rode in the basket, towed under the hot air balloon, to an appropriate height. Then, he released the basket from the balloon and rode it as it swung wildly from side to side during the descent. In his career, he jumped from as high as 8,000 feet. His wife, Jeanne-Genevieve Garnerin, became the first women to make a parachute jump.

An observer suggested cutting a vent in the canopy to reduce the oscillation. Garnerin did so and eventually completed about 200 jumps.

Medium : A painting: gouache; 18.7 x 12.5 cm

Frame size : 21 1/4" x 16 3/4"

Part of the Bella C. Landauer Collection, exhibited in "The Dream of Flight" as part of the American Treasures Exhibition of the Library of Congress, 2003-04.

Price: $140.00

Availability: Usually ships in one to two weeks

Product #: FR0001