The making of the first tethered balloon

Inventor, painter, and aeronaut, originally from Normandy, Nicolas Jacques Conté (1755 to 1805) took classes in Paris by the painter Greuze and by the physicist Charles. In April, 1794, he invented the artificial pencil.

The Committee of Public Safety chose Conté, along with Coutelle, to create a military observation ballooning school at Meudon. He lost his left eye in the explosion of an experiment in one of his classes. In 1796, he proposed an optical telegraph system to correspond with the balloons. To aid in instructing the flight students at Meudon, Conté composed a series of watercolors depicting the construction and use of military balloons.