Pumpkins Used as Dwellings to Be Secure against Wild Beasts

Suite of the Most Notable Things Seen by John Wilkins Erudite English Bishop during His Famous Voyage from the Earth to the Moon … dedicated to Sir William Hamilton ambassador to the Court of Naples

Pumpkins Used as Dwellings to Be Secure against Wild Beasts

about 1769

Filippo Morghen

(Italian, 1730–after 1807)

possibly after Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Hoüel

(French, 1735–1813)

Italy

etching

Image and Plate: 28 x 38.7 cm (11 x 15 1/4 in.); Sheet: 42 x 53.3 cm (16 9/16 x 21 in.)

Purchased with funds from the Estate of Muriel Butkin 2023.19.8

Location: 101B Prints & Drawings

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Did You Know?

Morghen based this print series on three books dedicated to moon exploration, including Bishop Francis Godwin’s, Man in the Moone, 1640.

Description

Filippo Morghen’s set of 10 etchings, created around 1764 and published in this second edition 1766-67, 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 interpretations of Asian, Ottoman, and Native American cultures—called chinoiserie and turquerie—that permeated the decorative and visual arts of the period.