Exhibition Label: 'Moonstruck' (14/10/2014 - 1/2/2015) - temporary display about the moon
Drawing the Moon
Some of the most exact depictions of the Moon have been created by people very different from the image of
the modern professional scientist. The moon globe here was designed by the successful artist John Russell, who
studied the Moon obsessively in the later decades of the 18th century.
The book below is the first ever atlas of the Moon. It was published by the wealthy Gdansk brewer Johannes Hevelius, who mapped the lunar surface from a rooftop observatory on top of his house.The works of both Russell and Hevelius are titled Selenographia, literally meaning “moon drawing”. On the Museum staircase there is a large pastel drawing of the Moon by Russell as well as a portrait of Hevelius.
Selenographia Moon Globe, by John Russell, London,
1797; inv. 52085
Johannes Hevelius, 'Selenographia' (Gdansk,1647)
Other narratives:
- John Russell: moon material elsewhere
- John Russell's 'Selenographia'
- Inventory no. 52085 - Former Display Label
- Article in Museum Publication : Sphaera No. 2 (Autumn 1995) 'Sphere No. 2 : John Russell's Selenographia'
- Accession Record : Extract from Annual Reports for 1933-35
- John Russell on Selenographia, and its earth globe