John Adams Whipple | The Moon, 1857 – 1860 | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The first manned mission to land on the Moon touched down on July 20, 1969. Upon arrival, Commander Neil A. Armstrong famously reported, “The Eagle has landed.” The next day he would be the first human to walk upon the Moon’s surface, the capstone of mankind’s fascination with the satellite.

Enjoy this slide show featuring an early photograph of the Moon, Caspar David Friedrich’s Romanticist landscape, a Nepalese mandala of Chandra, god of the Moon, all courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yamamoto Baiitsu’s painting of the Moon and waves from the Philadelphia Museum of Art Collection; and an Iranian manuscript illumination featuring the angel Israfil holding the Moon from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Angel Israfil Holding the Moon, two manuscript leaves of Qazvini's Ajaibal Mahhluqat, 16th century | Iran | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | Image and data from: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
John Adams Whipple | The Moon, 1857 – 1860 | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Yamamoto Baiitsu | Waves and Moon, Early 19th century | Philadelphia Museum of Art | Image and data from: Philadelphia Museum of Art
Mandala of Chandra, God of the Moon, late 14th-early 15th century | Nepal |The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Caspar David Friedrich | Two Men Contemplating the Moon, ca. 1830 | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Want to see more? Do an advanced search in the Artstor Digital Library for Moon in the Title field to find more than 1,000 results in many media from ancient times to the present. Be sure not to miss Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s irreverent painting, too racy for the Artstor Blog!