Trouvelot made some fifteen thousand drawings at the eyepiece, and in 1882 Charles Scribner's Sons published fifteen of them as chromolithographs at a scale nobody has attempted since. Photography could already record where things were; it could not yet record how they looked. So for one narrow decade the most accurate images of the sky were made by a man drawing what he saw, in pastel, by lamplight — and they remain the most beautiful. Trouvelot is otherwise remembered for accidentally releasing the gypsy moth into North America, which is a hard thing to have on the same résumé.

Maker: Étienne Léopold Trouvelot
Date: 1882
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00355

As chosen: 24 x 18 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	24 x 18 in
Outside size	25.6 x 19.6 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
10 x 8 in	844	Excellent	Trimmed 7.2%
14 x 11 in	613	Excellent	Trimmed 5.6%
16 x 12 in	562	Excellent	Trimmed 1.1%
20 x 16 in	422	Excellent	Trimmed 7.2%
24 x 18 in	375	Excellent	Trimmed 1.1%
30 x 24 in	281	Excellent	Trimmed 7.2%
40 x 30 in	225	Excellent	Trimmed 1.1%
48 x 36 in	187	Good	Trimmed 1.1%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
12 x 8 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
18 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
24 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
30 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
36 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop
60 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 10% crop

Scanned

2026-10-07

Master file

9,100 x 6,753 px, srgb

Tone

Darks 162, lights 255 of 255; 33.3% clipped light, 0% clipped dark

Colour

0% vivid

Sharpness

69.78

Notes

Pure white on 33% of the image, mostly the sheet itself: it prints as the paper's white
Narrow tonal range (33 L*): prints soft and even, as the original reads
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.