A gathering for the launch

Gustav Zafaurek was a painter of genre scenes and an illustrator born in Vienna. He studied in the academy there, and the Schubert Museum houses one of his works. The event he depicts here from 1866 was a common event in 19th Century Europe. The first manned ballooning attempt came on the 21st November 1783 by two French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier. The balloon was launched from the centre of Paris and flew for a period of 20 minutes. Within two years John Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries had crossed the Channel. Launches were often treated like a trip to the circus but were dangerous affairs as balloonists would experiment with different methods of raising their creations, including using hydrogen gas with hot air which would ultimately be the downfall of Pilatre de Rozier one of the world's first balloonists
The occasion in the painting was not a manned flight. However the methods used to raise the balloon seem very dangerous by today's standards.