An animal on the Moon

GUSTAVE DORÉ (1832-1883) (drawing);

PAUL-PARCEL JONNARD (†1902) (engraving)

Paris, 1868.

Illustration of the fable of the same name by La Fontaine.

Woodcut on cellulose paper.

Good condition. With margins.

With the arrival of modern astronomy and the telescope, the exploration of the Moon was definitively set on the path of empirical science. However, any small unforeseen event was enough for the old superstitions to emerge that were not completely overcome in the midst of the Enlightenment.

The fabulist Jean de la Fontaine collects “An Animal on the Moon” the story of how some astronomers believe they see an animal-shaped figure on the surface of the moon. Speculation immediately arises as to whether the origin of this phenomenon is an omen about the war that has just broken out on earth. However, that mysterious sign ends up being a little mouse that has taken refuge between the two lenses of the telescope.

Doré illustrates this fable of La Fontaine, a plea in favor of rationality, and captures this moment of astonishment and perplexity of the bewildered astronomers.