The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

The Manner of sailing by the power of Bellows practiced on that Planet

c. 1769

Filippo Morghen

(Italian, 1730–after 1807)

possibly after Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Hoüel

(French, 1735–1813)
Italy
etching
Purchased with funds from the Estate of Muriel Butkin 2023.19.5
Location: Not on view

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 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.
  • ?–2022
    with Benjamin Spademan Rare Books, London, England
    2022–23
    (Hill-Stone, Inc., South Dartmouth, MA, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    March 6, 2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • McColley, Grant, “The Three Editions of Filippo Morghen’s Raccolta,” The Art Bulletin (Mar., 1937). Vol. 19, No. 1: pp. 112-118.
    Jenkins, Ian and Kim Sloan. Vases and Volcanoes. Sir William Hamilton and His Collection. London: British Museum Press, 1996. cat. 41, p. 163.
    Guthke, S. Karl, “Nightmare and Utopia: Extraterrestrial Worlds from Galileo to Goethe,” Early Science and Medicine 2003. Vol. 8, No. 3: pp. 173-195, see p. 192-193.
  • {{cite web|title=The Manner of sailing by the power of Bellows practiced on that Planet|url=false|author=Filippo Morghen, Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Hoüel|year=c. 1769|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.19.5