Claude Mellan's Moon engravings [1637]

Claude Mellan
and
Pierre Gassendi
Three maps of the Moon
1637

These three maps of the Moon by the celebrated engraver Mellan, whose work was commissioned by Pierre Gassendi, show three different phases of the Earth's satellite.

Claude Mellan [May 23rd 1598 to March 9th, 1688] was a French artist and engraver In 1634, Mellan visited two scientists [Pierre Gassendi and Nicolas Peiresc] and they persuaded him to use their new telescope to made some drawings of the moon. "This Mellan did, and the resulting engravings are the most vivid impressions of the lunar surface that the world would see for the next century and a half. Mellan achieved his realism with a new engraving technique in which he avoided cross-hatching and produced shading by thickening or thinning his engraved lines."--Bill Ashworth [Linda Hall Library Newsletter].

Nicolas Peiresc

Pierre Gassendi