2-489-488 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

The Montgolfier brothers, French ballooning pioneers, (1890s). Joseph Michel (1740-1810) and Jacques Étienne Montgolfier (1745-1799) created great public interest with the world's first manned balloon flight in November 1783. They had previously tested their balloon without a passenger at Annonay in June the same year. From the series The Dream of Flight. From a private collection.