Multiple Exposures of the Moon: Nine Exposures Ranging from Two Minutes to Half a Second
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.In the 1840s and 1850s, celestial photography was a major subject of research at Harvard College Observatory, home to what was then the largest telescope in North America. Beginning in 1849, Observatory Director William Cranch Bond partnered with Whipple, a local photographer, to produce a stunning series of lunar daguerreotypes, of which this is one example. From a selection of the small images, they produced copy daguerreotype enlargements that were exhibited to acclaim at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851. That year, Whipple also accomplished the feat of recording a solar eclipse.
Humphrey, a New York portrait photographer, sent the experimental lunar daguerreotype here to Harvard’s president during the same era. The plate records nine different exposures, demonstrating that a shorter exposure time produced a sharper image.
Humphrey, a New York portrait photographer, sent the experimental lunar daguerreotype here to Harvard’s president during the same era. The plate records nine different exposures, demonstrating that a shorter exposure time produced a sharper image.
Artwork Details
- Title: Multiple Exposures of the Moon: Nine Exposures Ranging from Two Minutes to Half a Second
- Artist: Samuel Dwight Humphrey (American, Hartland, Connecticut 1823–1883 Tower City, North Dakota)
- Date: September 1, 1849
- Medium: Daguerreotype
- Dimensions: Image: 1 9/16 × 1 3/16 in. (4 × 3 cm)
Case (open): 3 9/16 × 6 5/16 in. (9.1 × 16 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: John G. Wolbach Library, Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. (OB-1)
- Curatorial Department: Photographs