Name: CHESLEY BONESTELL (1888-1986)
Brand: TYCHO BRAHE LOCATES POSITION OF THE NOVA OF 1572 IN CASSIOPEIA
Price: 50000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

CHESLEY BONESTELL (1888-1986)
TYCHO BRAHE LOCATES POSITION OF THE NOVA OF 1572 IN CASSIOPEIA
signed Chesley Bonestell (lower right), inscribed Tycho Brahe locates position / of the nova of 1572 in Cassiopeia (on reverse)
oil on board
16 x 13⁷⁄₈ in. (40.6 x 35.3 cm.)
Executed circa 1971.

Charles Anderson, California.
Anonymous sale; Heritage Auctions, Dallas, 12 October 2016, lot 71039.
Acquired at the above sale by the late owner.

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Lot Essay

Unusual Bonestell depiction on the history of astronomy. According to Ron Miller, this painting was made circa 1971 for a book about the Milky Way galaxy which was never published.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) can be considered a kindred spirit to Bonestell. Due to Bonestell's rigorous mathematical accuracy and patient model-building, he was able to portray incredible detail about the surface of planets that had never been visited or closely photographed. Similarly, Tycho Brahe is famous for devising precise instruments which allowed him to make unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations still in the era of "naked eye" astronomy, i.e. before the development of the telescope.