Oil on canvas. Signed and dated J. Grimm Mond Offenburg 1888. In original gilt-composition frame.

This remarkable depiction of the surface of the full moon in oil is the work of Julius Grimm (1842-1906), scientific photographer and Hofphotograph (court photographer)1 to the Baden court, and was presented to Grand Duke Friedrich I von Baden in 1888.

Grimm's greatest contribution to science and photography was in the field of astronomy and more specifically selenography (the study of the moon and its surface). In 1881 Grimm published his Atlas der Astrophysik, followed by a second volume, the Atlas Des Sonnensystems in 1884. The first Atlas consists of portfolios of twenty-five black and white photographs and drawings by Grimm. The first plate, a linear cartographic drawing of the visible side of the moon, evidently provides a prototype for the present painting, which itself achieves an almost photo-realist quality.

Grimm knew of the Grand Duke's fascination with astronomy and was granted an audience with Friedrich in November 1887, during which Grimm's photographs of the moon were discussed. As a result, Grimm embarked on an ambitious project to produce an oil painting of the moon, based on his photographs, to be presented to the Grand Duke. On 16 July 1888 he wrote to the court of his decision to produce for His Royal Highness "using the latest photography... a larger picture of the full moon in oils, partly from photographs and partly from nature, on the surface of which all the craters and seas are represented with the greatest precision." Grimm added that he would be "extraordinarily pleased if his Royal Highness would decide to include the painting in the Grand Ducal collection."2 Grimm's wish was granted and the picture was dispatched to the Royal Collection of Baden within a few weeks. Grimm was later asked by the court to add the date to the painting, an indication of the high esteem in which the work was held.

Grimm was born in Innsbruck, Austria and moved to Offenburg in Germany in 1873, where he set up his photography studio. He came to concentrate on the more specialized and international field of scientific photography. From his "scientific institute" in Offenburg he photographed a wide range of organic materials enlarged to scales of between 1,000 and 5,500. Grimm won two medals for his "enlargements of natural scientific objects" at the Karlsruhe Art and Industry Exhibition in 1877 and his photographs won international acclaim. In the same year the London Photographic News declared his work to be "of the first degree." In 1878 Grimm's photographs appeared in Heinrich Anton de Bary's Mikro Photographien nach Botanischen Präparaten (Micro-photography of Botanical Preparations) and in 1884 he made a similar contribution to the Atlas der Menschlichen und Tieriscen Haare sowie Der Ahnlichen Fasergebilde (The Atlas of Human and Animal Hair As Well As Other Fibrous Substances) by Dr. W. Waldeyer.

Grimm's work received academic praise across Germany. Professor Solling of Würzburg announced that he was "sure there will be significant demand for your moon photographs... as for me - I have decided to put off my order of naturalistic moon photographs from Rutherdorf." Moreover Hofrath Dr. Sigmund Theodore Stein of Frankfurt proclaimed that, "the collection of moon photographs by Grimm is the best I have seen in scientific photography," whilst Professor Platz in Karlsruhe predicted that, "there will be strong interest."3

The text of Grimm's first selenographic volume, the Atlas der Astrophysik, written by J.I. Kettler, gives us an insight into the cartographic techniques used by Grimm to draw the 1881 map and, by implication, the present painting. "The current map," Kettler explained, "is drawn in a orthographic projection and as a result the parts positioned closest to the edge of the drawing diverge more from their true form. For this reason the map shows in an elliptical shape a large number of mountain formations which are actually circular."4

Kettler also reveals the spirit of discovery that surrounded the study of the moon at this time. "Progress in our knowledge of the moon," Kettler continued, "is mainly in topographics. By determining the length and width between a number of points on the moon surface, we have now constructed a rather detailed and reliable picture of the side of the moon which faces the earth. In fact we now know it more intimately than some parts of our own earth's surface."5

Selenography was a rapidly developing subject during the 19th century, and one in which German scientists played a leading role. In 1824 Wilhelm Gottelf Lohrmann (1796-1840), a professional cartographer and surveyor of the Kingdom of Saxony published his Topographie der Sichtbaren Mondoberfläche, widely regarded as the first modern treatise on the subject. Following Lohrmann, Wilhelm Beer and J.H. Mädler set up a private observatory for lunar study in Berlin in 1830, resulting in a map of the moon 97.5 cm in diameter: the same size as Lohrman's map and of similar proportions to the present piece. Beer and Mädler's work remained the orthodoxy until 1878 when Johannn Friedrich Julius Schmidt published his Charte der Gebrige des Mondes, a map more than twice the size of the previous attempts which was the result of thirty years' work. Despite the monumental scale of Schmidt's efforts, his studies were subsequently found to be inaccurate in their calculation of heights.

The search for Grimm's selenographic influences leads us to London and a book by James Nasmyth and James Carpenter of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Entitled The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World and a Satellite and first published in 1874, the book employed a novel technique to illustrate lunar landscapes, which Grimm used and acknowledged in his Atlas. Many of the plates are actually subtitled "nach Nasmyth" and Kettler's text reveals Grimm followed the example of the two English authors. "In order to present the illustrations... as near as possible to the absolute integrity of the objects," explained Nasmyth and Carpenter, "the idea occurred to us that by translating the drawings into models which when placed in the sun's rays would faithfully reproduce the lunar effects of light and shadow, and then photographing the models so treated we should produce most faithful representatives of the original."6

Grimm's 1888 painting, which has a highly textured surface and depicts shadows cast on the surface of the moon by the landscape, clearly draws on this approach, as it represents the moon in a way that can never be seen in reality. During a full moon, the light of the sun comes from behind the observer and thus there are no shadows. Grimm's representation features an arrow to the left of the moon, which indicates the direction of illumination adopted by Grimm. The shadowed surface would have been based on photographs of the different phases of the moon, when shadows do occur, as well the model-making technique that Grimm also adopted. For Grimm, the issue of lighting the painting was critical and in a letter to the court he revealed that the arrow also indicated the direction from which his work should be illuminated. "The picture," Grimm wrote, "should only be hung or positioned, that the light falls onto the picture from the side where the arrow is positioned, because otherwise, in the case of incorrect lighting, the effect could be completely lost."7 A similar painting by Grimm, essentially identical in composition but twice the size in scale and executed in 1895, belongs to the University of Tuebingen, with which Grimm was associated at one time. This work was also painted with an apparent light source originating on the left.

Julius Grimm's extraordinary painting is a testament not only to his contribution to the selenographic field, but also to the vivid artistic insight that imbued his presentation of scientific imagery. His letter to the court certainly suggests that Grimm himself recognized these dual qualities of the painting when he wrote:

My respectful request that His Royal Highness add this picture to the collection in the castle is based primarily in the fine intention that I might, through this heartfelt wish, at least be able to contribute something small to provide His Royal Highness and my most highly esteemed prince now and then with a few hours’ distraction from the difficult blows fate has dealt this year…8

Provenance:
Presented by the artist to Grand Duke Friedrich I von Baden in July 1888
Thence by descent to the previous owner

Measurements:
Height including frame: 53" (134.6 cm); Width including frame: 53" (134.6 cm).

Footnotes:
1. The title page Atlas der Menschlichen und Tieriscen Haare sowie Der Ahnlichen Fasergebilde (The Atlas of Human and Animal Hair As Well As Other Fibrous Substances) by Dr. W. Waldeyer refers to 'J. Grimm, Grossherzoglichem Hofphotographen in Offenburg, Baden.'
2. Letter from Grimm to court, July 16, 1888. Translated by Debbie Lewer.
3. Grimm’s photographs were highly esteemed by his colleagues as can be seen in extensive correspondence attesting their appreciation. Several letters are dated 1877.
4. Grimm, Julius and J.I. Kettler. Atlas der Astrophysik. Schauenburg, 1881.
5. ibid.
6. Carpenter, James and James Nasmyth. The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite. London: John Murray, 1874.
7. Letter from Grimm to court, July 24, 1888. Translated by Debbie Lewer.
8. ibid.