Interior of Crater, in Astronomical Notebook
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Working with a telescope outfitted with an etched-glass grid in the eyepiece, Trouvelot made sketches on gridded paper that became the basis for stunning pastels. He published fifteen of these as chromolithographs in The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings Manual. In its introduction, the artist characterized photography as an aid at best, and one with serious limitations, often producing astronomical images “so blurred and indistinct that no details of any great value can be secured.” His renderings of the lunar Mare Humorum and a total solar eclipse show that he strove not merely to make detailed records for astronomers, but also to capture the sublimity of celestial bodies.
Artwork Details
- Title: Interior of Crater, in Astronomical Notebook
- Artist: Etienne Léopold Trouvelot (French, Aisne 1827–1895 Meudon)
- Date: 1872–1873
- Medium: Ink, gouache, and graphite
- Dimensions: 4 3/4 × 8 1/4 in. (12 × 21 cm)
- Classification: Sketchbooks
- Credit Line: Houghton Library, Harvard University, transferred from the Harvard College Observatory to Widener Library, Harvard (MS Am 2081)
- Curatorial Department: Photographs