Photographie Lunaire: Bouillaud, Ptolémée, Copernic

Maurice Loewy French, born Austria

1896

Not on view

This enormous photogravure was made for the multivolume lunar atlas by Maurice Loewy and Pierre Henri Puiseux, L'atlas photographique de la lune (1910). The negatives were produced at the Paris Observatory with a camera attached to a telescope. Since the earth and the moon are moving constantly, the camera and telescope had to move accordingly to produce a clear image-no easy feat considering the long exposure times required to take photographs at night. Both were synchronized with the moon's path by a sophisticated preset clock system, and the resulting images, such as this example, maintained an impressive amount of detail, even after subsequent photographic enlargement and transfer to an etching plate. By the end of the nineteenth century, when the Atlas project was initiated, photogravure had improved sufficiently to allow thousands of ink prints to be produced from a single plate, which led to the wide circulation of photographically illustrated texts-and, in this case, the sharing of astronomical research. The three names in the title refer to lunar craters visible in the image.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Notes

Exhibition History

Title: Photographie Lunaire: Bouillaud, Ptolémée, Copernic
Artist: Maurice Loewy (French (born Austria), Vienna 1833–1907 Paris)
Artist: Pierre Henri Puiseux (French, Paris 1855–1928 Paris)
Date: 1896
Medium: Photogravure
Dimensions: Sheet: 31 11/16 × 23 3/8 in. (80.5 × 59.4 cm)
Classifications: Photographs, Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Charles Isaacs, in memory of Samuel J. Wagstaff Jr., 1987
Object Number: 1987.1104
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

By Pierre Henri Puiseux

In the same medium

From the same time and place

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

Château de St.-Germain-en-Laye, Intérieur de la cour, Chapelle, Médéric Mieusement French, Albumen silver print from glass negative — Château de St.-Germain-en-Laye, Intérieur de la cour, Chapelle
Médéric Mieusement
1862–67

The Refectory of the Imperial Asylum at Vincennes, Charles Nègre French, Salted paper print from glass negative — The Refectory of the Imperial Asylum at Vincennes
Charles Nègre
1858–59

Electro–Physiologie, Figure 64, Adrien Tournachon French, Albumen silver print from glass negative — Electro–Physiologie, Figure 64
Adrien Tournachon
Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne
1854–56, printed 1862

[Large Figures on the North Porch, Chartres Cathedral], Henri-Jean-Louis Le Secq French, Salted paper print from paper negative — [Large Figures on the North Porch, Chartres Cathedral]
Henri-Jean-Louis Le Secq
1852

[Entrance to the Port of Boulogne], Edouard Baldus French, born Prussia, Salted paper print from paper negative — [Entrance to the Port of Boulogne]
Edouard Baldus
1855

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.