The Carriages used on the Moon and which move by sails

1769

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

The Carriages used on the Moon and which move by sails is a 1769 by Filippo Morghen, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Filippo Morghen
When & what style?: 1769 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a strange carriage with sails rolling across the moon’s surface, pulled by giant birds. This etching is part of a series imagining life on the moon—complete with pumpkin houses and scissor-wielding hunters. People in the 1700s loved wild stories about space, and Morghen turned them into playful, detailed pictures. The moon here feels almost like Earth, just weirder. If you like this kind of quirky imagination, look up more works by Filippo Morghen (Italian, 1730–after 1807).

The story of this work

Overview

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…