[Spiral of Lightning in a Thunderstorm]
As part of a late-nineteenth-century global contingent of scientists dedicated to the documentation of electrical storms, Charles Moussette was a pioneer of lightning photography in France. Like other like-minded researchers, Moussette was determined to prove that artistic renderings of lightning as zigzagging bolts were unrealistic. He made his most famous images from his laboratory in Arcueil, outside Paris, as a thunderstorm subsided around 9:45 p.m. on May 12, 1886. On a single glass plate negative, he recorded two bolts of lightning to the northwest and, by enlarging a portion of his negative, he provided visual evidence of the blast’s irregular spiral form. Moussette published his image in 1886 and exhibited his photographs at the Royal Meteorological Society in 1888, alongside displays of meteoric iron (alleged thunderbolts), lightning rods, and articles of clothing reportedly torn off a man by lightning strikes.
Artwork Details
- Title: [Spiral of Lightning in a Thunderstorm]
- Artist: Charles Moussette (French, active 1880s)
- Date: May 12, 1886
- Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: Mount: 9 13/16 in. × 6 7/8 in. (25 × 17.5 cm)
Image: 6 5/8 × 4 5/8 in. (16.9 × 11.7 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
- Object Number: 2005.100.651
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Charles Moussette
May 12, 1886
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