James Nasmyth, 1851.
Copernicus’ crater, chalk, pastel and crayon, painting of part of the surface of the Moon, dated 16 April 1851. 143.5x123cm.

James Nasmyth, a Scottish engineer who had achieved fame and fortune with his invention of the steam-hammer, and who had retired to a house in Penshurst, Kent, renamed ‘Hammerfield’, in order to pursue his obsessions on astronomy and photography.