Cometographia
Johannes Hevelius, 1668
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 16 x 16 in, 43 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buyComets were long feared as omens, blazing warnings hung in the sky — and Hevelius set out to make them a subject of science instead, cataloguing their forms, their glowing tails, and their paths across the heavens in his Cometographia. Its famous frontispiece shows the great astronomers seated in debate over what comets truly are. The moment dread began to give way to understanding, and the wandering fires of the sky became something to be measured rather than merely feared.
- Maker
- Johannes Hevelius
- Date
- 1668
- Medium of the original
- Plate
- Original held by
- Published Danzig · Linda Hall Library
- Credit
- Published Danzig · Linda Hall Library
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00980
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.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 16 x 16 in | 43 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 20 x 20 in | 35 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 30 in | 23 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 700 x 727 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 154, lights 204 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 7.13
- Notes
- Narrow tonal range (18 L*): prints soft and even, as the original reads
The Firmament
The heavens, drawn in gold: every star, god and beast the old astronomers mapped.
All 43 pieces from The Firmament
