The Manner of Transporting Wares on Barges Drawn by a Bellows

1769

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

The Manner of Transporting Wares on Barges Drawn by a Bellows 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 boat gliding across water, pulled by a giant bellows instead of oars or sails. People sit inside, calm as if this is normal. This isn’t a real scene—it’s from a story about life on the moon, imagined in the 1700s. The artist drew weird, funny inventions, like pumpkin houses and scissor traps for giant rats. It’s like early science fiction, but in ink. If you like odd old visions of the future, look up *subject: italy* for more strange moon tales.

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…