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The Moon

ca. 1856
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Inspired by John Adams Whipple’s daguerreotypes at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, De La Rue began experimenting with lunar photography, using wet-collodion glass negatives and a telescope of his own design. Because his first telescope had no clockwork mechanism, his earliest trials required an assistant to carefully move it in sync with the moon’s trajectory through the night sky. By 1856 he had upgraded his instruments, and he began producing prints of unprecedented clarity.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Moon
  • Artist: Warren de la Rue (British, Guernsey Island 1815–1889 London)
  • Date: ca. 1856
  • Medium: Albumen silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 6 5/8 × 6 7/16 in. (16.8 × 16.4 cm)
    11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Randy and Yulia G. Liebermann Lunar and Planetary Exploration Collection
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs