Trouble in the stars

[evacguy]

Astronomia is a terracotta sculpture by William James Neatby, produced in 1895 by Doulton & Co (later Royal Doulton). It is located on the exterior wall of the South Building (constructed 1891-1899) of the Royal Observatory Greenwich and is positioned at the bottom of the staircase window. It depicts the mythological figure of Astronomia holding the sun in her right outstretched hand and a crescent moon in her left hand. Also incorporated wihtin the sculpture are images of the four zodiacal signs of the fixed modality representing the four elements of fire, water, air and earth, represented by Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus respectively. Unfortunately, the four signs of the zodiac were not arranged in the correct order, but as shown i.e., Aquarius (air), Scorpio (water), Leo (fire) and Taurus (earth). In his journal, Christie (the Astronomer Royal) records visiting the Doulton Works on 22 March 1895 and discovering that the four signs of the zodiac were arranged in the ‘wrong way’ and that the shape of the Moon was also incorrect. He also noted that he arranged for the errors to be corrected. However, as seen in the photograph, clearly the requested change was not implemented.

P.S. I uploaded an updated version of the image that had a better horizontal setting.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II
• 70.0 mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/80 sec
• ISO 1600