On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Multiple Exposures of the Moon: Nine Exposures Ranging from Two Minutes to Half a Second
Samuel Dwight Humphrey American
Not on view
In the 1840s and 1850s, celestial photography was a major subject of research at Harvard College Observatory, home to what was then the largest telescope in North America. Beginning in 1849, Observatory Director William Cranch Bond partnered with Whipple, a local photographer, to produce a stunning series of lunar daguerreotypes, of which this is one example. From a selection of the small images, they produced copy daguerreotype enlargements that were exhibited to acclaim at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851. That year, Whipple also accomplished the feat of recording a solar eclipse.
Humphrey, a New York portrait photographer, sent the experimental lunar daguerreotype here to Harvard’s president during the same era. The plate records nine different exposures, demonstrating that a shorter exposure time produced a sharper image.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
