Artist Maria Popova Makes Vintage Science Face Masks Featuring Wondrous Centuries-Old Astronomical Art And Natural History Illustrations

Star clusters in Hercules by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1877)

According to Maria Popova: “I originally made these masks just for myself and a handful of beloved humans, but they turned out so unexpectedly lovely that I decided to make them available to all who would delight in them.

The manufacturer (society6, over whose production, pricing, and other practical elements I have no control — mine is only the conceptual element, fitted into their standard template; they print the fabrics, sew the masks, sell and ship them) is donating a portion of their proceeds to World Center Kitchen, helping to feed those most in need at times of crisis, and I am donating to The Nature Conservancy, stewarding the long-term sustenance of this entire improbable, irreplaceable planet, and the endeavor to build New York’s most democratic institution of cosmic perspective, the city’s first public observatory.”

More: Shop h/t: brainpickings, messynessychic

Total solar eclipse by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1878)

Art by Friedrich Wilhelm Winter from “Cephalopod Atlas” by Carl Chun, 1910

Meteor shower by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1868)

Fishes from “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia” by William Saville Kent, 1893

Coffee by Elizabeth Blackwell from “A Curious Herbal,” 1737

Aurora Borealis by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1872)

“White-Jointed Spider” by Sarah Stone, 1790

Saturn by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1874)

The Milky Way by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1874-1876)

Snakes by Sarah Stone, 1790

Paul Sougy: The Lizard, 1950s

Solar System quilt by Ellen Harding Baker (1886)

Qiunce by Elizabeth Blackwell from “A Curious Herbal,” 1737

“Blue Bellied Parrot” by Sarah Stone, 1790

Color classification wheel from “Les phénomènes de la physique” (1868)

Double rainbow from “Les phénomènes de la physique,” 1868

Stephoidea by Ernst Haeckel (Art Forms in Nature, 1900)

“A Poto Roo” by Sarah Stone, 1790

Solar protuberances by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1873)

Mare Humorum by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1875)

17th-Century Astronomical Art by Maria Clara Eimmart: Phases of Venus and Saturn

Grapevine by Elizabeth Blackwell from “A Curious Herbal,” 1737