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The Moon

Warren de la Rue British

ca. 1856

Not on view

Inspired by John Adams Whipple’s daguerreotypes at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, De La Rue began experimenting with lunar photography, using wet-collodion glass negatives and a telescope of his own design. Because his first telescope had no clockwork mechanism, his earliest trials required an assistant to carefully move it in sync with the moon’s trajectory through the night sky. By 1856 he had upgraded his instruments, and he began producing prints of unprecedented clarity.

The Moon, Warren de la Rue (British, Guernsey Island 1815–1889 London), Albumen silver print — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: The Moon

Artist: Warren de la Rue (British, Guernsey Island 1815–1889 London)

Date: ca. 1856

Medium: Albumen silver print

Dimensions: Image: 6 5/8 × 6 7/16 in. (16.8 × 16.4 cm)
11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)

Classification: Photographs

Credit Line: Randy and Yulia G. Liebermann Lunar and Planetary Exploration Collection

Accession Number: SL.11.2019.9.7

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Photographs at The Met

The Met's Department of Photographs houses a collection of more than 75,000 works spanning the history of photography from its invention in the 1830s to the present.