In 1679 Cassini published the first accurate map of the Moon — twenty-one inches across, so finely engraved that its three-dimensional craters and seas went unsurpassed until photography itself. Drawn from nine years of observation at the terminator, where raking light throws every mountain into relief, it is a marvel. And hidden within it, a secret: at the Bay of Rainbows, a tiny "Moon Maiden," a woman's head with flowing hair, and in the Sea of Serenity a heart pierced like Cupid's dart — love letters, it is thought, to the wives of the mapmaker and his engraver, smuggled onto the surface of the Moon.

Maker: Giovanni Domenico Cassini
Date: 1679
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Paris Observatory · Linda Hall Library
Credit: Paris Observatory · Linda Hall Library
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00974

As chosen: 20 x 20 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	20 x 20 in
Outside size	21.6 x 21.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
16 x 16 in	233	Excellent	Trimmed 2.9%
20 x 20 in	186	Good	Trimmed 2.9%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
30 x 30 in	124 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged

Scanned

2026-10-07

Master file

3,840 x 3,728 px, srgb, Adobe RGB (1998)

Tone

Darks 94, lights 210 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark

Colour

0% vivid

Sharpness

492.13

Notes

Colour profile Adobe RGB (1998), converted to sRGB for the screen and the print
Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned

Shipping for this piece to a US address is $25.90, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.

Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.

A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.