Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

A Solar Eclipse Painting from the 1700s

Painting Credit: Cosmas Damian Asam; Digital Image Copyright: Jay Pasachoff

Explanation: The above painting was completed in 1735 by Cosmas Damian Asam, a painter and architect famous in early eighteenth century Germany. Clearly drawn is not only a total solar eclipse, but the solar corona and the diamond ring effect visible when sunlight flows only between mountains on the Moon. The person depicted viewing these eclipse phenomena is St. Benedict. Roberta J. M. Olson and Jay Pasachoff have hypothesized that Asam himself may have seen first hand one or all of the total solar eclipses of May 1706, 1724, and 1733.

theteach

16 comments:

eastcoastlife said...

Interesting painting. I'm more interested in the elaborate frame. hehe....

Anonymous said...

a great work of art!

happy ww!

Anonymous said...

It's beautiful, thank you for the explanation.

Happy WW and take care!

ellen b. said...

Cool. Do you have any idea where the original hangs?

maryt/theteach said...

ellen, I don't know I'll look into it...

Everyone thanks for commenting! I really appreciate it. :)

Heart of Rachel said...

I find eclipses very fascinating. That painting is an interesting work of art.

You may find my WW here.

SandyCarlson said...

That's an interesting conversation between art and science, Mary. That's quite a painting.

Sandee said...

How cool. Of course I didn't know this either. What a great choice for WW Teach. Have a wonderful WW. :)

Jim said...

Very nice painting. I don't think I'd want it in my home, but a museum is a great place for it!

Happy WW/WT! Mine us UP for Wednesday already. I too old to be getting it ...
..

Smalltown RN said...

that is a very interesting painting...but the history lesson you provided was very valuable...thank you teach!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, it never ceases to amaze me how mush scientific knowledge and art talent was around back in the 1700's. Love it. Happy WW!

Anonymous said...

what a beautiful shot for WW. Beautiful!

Unknown said...

WOW! I ♥ both, the painting an dthe frame =)

A Free Man said...

Great painting - it's interesting to see how folks observed things in the past.

Mo and The Purries said...

I can't stop staring at the frame...

Daisy said...

I think that painting is really amazing!