Moon: Craters, South East Tycho

Made:
1851 in Kent
maker:
James Hall Nasmyth
Moon / James Nasmyth, 1851

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Moon / James Nasmyth, 1851
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Moon / James Nasmyth, 1851. - 6: Craters, South East Tycho: painting by James Nasmyth of part of the surface of the Moon, dated 1851. 130x147cm.

James Nasmyth started observing the moon in the 1840s, while running a revolutionary engineering business in Manchester. He tried to use the most up-to-date lunar map published by German astronomers but found the two-dimensional line drawing did not equate easily with the three-dimensional surface he observed. He therefore produced a series of sketches and paintings, from hundreds of observations, focusing on the light and shadow created by the moon’s pitted surface.

Details

Category:
Art
Object Number:
1956-153/6
Measurements:
overall (including secondary support): 1305 mm x 1490 mm
type:
painting
credit:
University of Oxford Observatory