Long-lost Galileo watercolours of moon authenticated

ROME -- Long-lost illustrations by Galileo of the Moon’s surface as he saw it through his telescope have come to light after four centuries.

The five watercolours are in Galileo’s own copy of Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger) [published in Venice in 1610] in which he gave details of his revolutionary" celestial discoveries"...

The illustrations show the Moon with ochre and light brown shadings, highlighting the Moon’s craters and valleys. They do not feature in any other copy of the book.

They were authenticated by Professor Horst Bredekamp, head of the Art History Institute at Humboldt University in Berlin, and Professor William R. Shea, holder of the Galileo Chair of the History of Science at Padua University [where they were unveiled this week. The book, turning up after 400 years, was apparently] in a collection in South America...

Professor Bredekamp said that the drawings showed a “refined hand”, reflecting the fact that Galileo was a talented painter. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera, published the illustrations, saying that they helped readers"to imagine the fascination which gripped Galileo as he scanned the night skies above Padua. It wasn’t enough to draw what he saw, he felt impelled to use colour as well to bring his vision alive." The paper said that Padua University hoped to buy the book.

Galileo was the first scientist to report lunar mountains and craters, concluding that the Moon was"rough and uneven, and just like the surface of the Earth itself," rather than a perfect sphere as Aristotle had claimed.

Related Links

Corriere della Sera coverage including pictures