Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

A Comet Above Strasbourg at Night

n.d.
Not on view
Seupel, responsible for a good number of engravings representing events and monuments in his native Strasbourg, recorded, in this rare mezzotint, a comet that appeared over the city. A seventeenth-century inscription in German at the top of the sheet states: Zu Strassburg also gesehen worden (in Strasbourg, as it was seen). There were nine comets that Seupel could have witnessed during the last two decades of the seventeenth century including the famous Halley's Comet, visible over Europe in 1682. Seupel most likely represented here the great red-tinted comet of 1680, one of the most brilliant ever recorded and one that was depicted by many contemporary artists.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Comet Above Strasbourg at Night
  • Artist: Johann Adam Seupel (German, 1662–1717)
  • Date: n.d.
  • Medium: Mezzotint
  • Dimensions: sheet: 4 15/16 x 7 1/2 in. (12.5 x 19.1 cm)
    plate: 4 1/4 x 7 3/16 in. (10.8 x 18.2 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2006
  • Object Number: 2006.52
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Clarinet in D, Boxwood, brass, German
Clarinet in D
German
1750–70
Sharecropper, Elizabeth Catlett American and Mexican, Linocut printed in green and black
Sharecropper
Elizabeth Catlett
1952 (published 1968–70)
Rapier, Steel, wood, copper alloy, German
Rapier
German
ca. 1625–50
The Censer, Martin Schongauer German, Engraving
The Censer
Martin Schongauer
After/with Georg Schongauer
1470–1491
Jug, Stoneware, German
Jug
German
1680–1700

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 contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.