Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1827–1895)
Saturn, from the series The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1882
Rare Book Division
Saturn, from the series The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings
Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, a French-American artist and amateur astronomer dubbed “the Audubon of the Sky,” joined the staff of the Harvard College Observatory in 1872. There—and later, at the United States Naval Observatory and the Paris Observatory—he produced thousands of sketches of astronomical phenomena, some of which he exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia to great acclaim.
Encouraged by the public’s positive response to his artwork, Trouvelot resolved to publish a selection of his best images. In 1882 Charles Scribner’s Sons of New York issued The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings, a suite of 15 chromolithographic prints depicting various celestial wonders and comprising one of the most impressive American colorplate books. While produced in an edition of perhaps 300 copies, most were broken up over the years. The Library preserves one of the four complete sets known to survive.
Currently on View at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
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