1769
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Suite of the most notable things seen by John Wilkins erudite English Bishop during his famous voyage from the Earth to the Moon … dedicated to Sir William Hamilton ambassador to the Court of Naples is a 1769 by Filippo Morghen, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a man riding a giant bird toward the moon, while below, people sail in pumpkin boats and hunt rats with scissors the size of trees. This is one of ten prints imagining a trip to the moon in the 1700s. Back then, people loved stories about space travel, even if the science was wild. The artist filled the scene with silly inventions—like bellows-powered ships—to make the moon feel real. If you like this kind of playful fantasy, look up *subject: italy* for more strange and wonderful old prints.
Filippo Morghen’s set of 10 etchings is outstanding among visual narratives of imaginary voyages to the moon, both visual and literary, that intrigued 18th-century European audiences. A title page and nine plates depict the imagined lives and economy of moon dwellers. These include modes of transport such as large birds and sailboats propelled by giant bellows, enormous scissors for capturing wild beasts (including an oversized rat), and the use of giant pumpkins as fishing boats and as dwellings. Representations of the moon dwellers are based on inaccurate and imaginary European…
Morghen based this print series on three books dedicated to moon exploration, including Bishop Francis Godwin’s The Man in the Moone (1640).
Read the full account in the museum source.
Filippo Morghen (1730–1807) was an Italian artist, born in Florence.
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