A House on Water, and a New Way to Summon Geese by the Beat of a Drum

Morghen employed fine-line etching to render intricate, detailed compositions with precise cross-hatching and delicate tonal gradations. The style is meticulous yet whimsical, combining Enlightenment-era draftsmanship with the playful exaggeration typical of decorative arts. Figures and objects are rendered with stylized proportions, emphasizing surreal scale shifts that heighten the otherworldly atmosphere without sacrificing visual coherence.

The series was produced in Italy during the 1780s, a period when lunar voyages and fantastical travelogues gained popularity in European print culture. Morghen, known for reproductive engravings, turned to original fantasy subjects likely to appeal to collectors intrigued by scientific curiosity and exoticism. The complete set survives in a few institutional collections, including The Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is preserved as a rare example of speculative printmaking.

The imagery draws from prevailing European trends like chinoiserie and turquerie, reinterpreting Asian, Ottoman, and Indigenous motifs through a lens of fantasy rather than ethnographic accuracy. These borrowings were common in decorative arts but here repurposed to depict an alien civilization, revealing how cultural stereotypes were projected onto imagined realms. The moon served as a safe space to explore and exaggerate difference without direct political consequence.

Morghen’s etchings stand as a quiet precursor to later science fiction and satirical visual narratives. Though not widely influential in his time, the series exemplifies how print culture allowed artists to interrogate perception, knowledge, and cultural bias through fantasy. Today, it is valued for its nuanced blend of technical skill and imaginative subversion, offering insight into how 18th-century audiences processed the unknown.