Art

Panorama of the Army of the Cumberland

The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.

Place: Philadelphia

Ruined Brewery on Girard Avenue

Were it not identified as a brewery on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the building in this unsigned 1879 watercolor and pencil study could easily be mistaken for one of Stephen Ferris’s Moorish subjects from his trip to southern Spain in 1881.
Description (Brief)
Were it not identified as a brewery on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the building in this unsigned 1879 watercolor and pencil study could easily be mistaken for one of Stephen Ferris’s Moorish subjects from his trip to southern Spain in 1881. There are two more watercolor studies of the brewery; see: GA*14546 and GA*14547.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14540
catalog number
14540
accession number
94830

Young Artist

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1877
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Gavarni, Paul
ID Number
GA.14447.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14447.01

Engraved printing plate "Ptilouopus Perousei"

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Ptilonopus Perousei" (now Many-colored Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus perousii Peale (S.
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Ptilonopus Perousei" (now Many-colored Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus perousii Peale (S. polynesia)) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 33, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by Robert Hinshelwood after T. R. Peale.
Description
Robert Hinshelwood (1812–after 1875) of New York City engraved this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. The image depicts the Ptilonopus Perousei (now Many-colored Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus perousii Peale [S. polynesia]). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 33 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Peale, Titian Ramsay
graphic artist
Hinshelwood, Robert
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
ID Number
1999.0145.413
catalog number
1999.0145.413
accession number
1999.0145

Polar Bear

Colored print of a polar bear standing on an ice flow.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a polar bear standing on an ice flow.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1830
maker
Childs & Inman
ID Number
DL.60.2699
catalog number
60.2699
accession number
228146

"Liberty Bell" Footed Mug

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876
c. 1876-1880
ID Number
1985.0371.0018
accession number
1985.0371
catalog number
1985.0371.18

A Collaboration

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1887
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
original artist
Gerome, Jean Leon
ID Number
GA.14469
accession number
94830
catalog number
14469

Chromolithograph of "Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis"

This tinted lithograph of “Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis" was produced by Thomas Sinclair (1805-1881), Philadelphia, after a sketch by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872) and an original sketch by expedition artist R. H. Kern (1821-1853).
Description
This tinted lithograph of “Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis" was produced by Thomas Sinclair (1805-1881), Philadelphia, after a sketch by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872) and an original sketch by expedition artist R. H. Kern (1821-1853). It was printed as a plate in Volume II following page 38, in the "Report of Explorations for a Route for the Pacific Railroad, by Captain J. W. Gunnison (1812-1853), Topographical Engineers, Near the 38th and 39th Parallels of North Latitude, from the Mouth of the Kansas River, Missouri to the Sevier Lake in the Great Basin" by Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith (1818-1881), Third Artillery.
The volume was printed as part of the "Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean" in 1855 by A. P. O. Nicholson (1808-1876) of Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855
engraver
Stanley, John Mix
artist
Kern, Richard H.
printer
Sinclair, T.
publisher
U.S. War Department
author
Beckwith, Edward Griffin
Gunnison, John Williams
printer
Tucker, Beverley
publisher
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
ID Number
GA.10729.27
accession number
62261

Bos Americanus, Gmel.

This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals.
Description (Brief)
This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound. Reverend John Bachman was a naturalist of note, as well as John James Audubon’s friend and father of both daughters-in-law, so he provided the accompanying letterpress narrative. It made the production truly a family affair. The slightly later Octavo edition contained 155 prints of smaller size.
This unbound lithographic plate depicts a hand-colored image of three buffalo, a male, female, and young buffalo, in rugged terrain. A herd grazes in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1845
artist; publisher
Audubon, John James
printer
Bowen, John T.
ID Number
DL.60.2755
catalog number
60.2755
accession number
228146

Portrait of Man with an Earring

The pen and ink portrait, signed and dated 1882, shows a man who might be North African, perhaps someone Ferris sketched on his trip to North Africa and Spain in 1881 and worked up later when he returned to Philadelphia.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The pen and ink portrait, signed and dated 1882, shows a man who might be North African, perhaps someone Ferris sketched on his trip to North Africa and Spain in 1881 and worked up later when he returned to Philadelphia.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1882
maker
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16621
catalog number
16621
accession number
119780

Mustela Martes, Linn.

This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals.
Description (Brief)
This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound. Reverend John Bachman was a naturalist of note, as well as John James Audubon’s friend and father of both daughter-in-laws, so he provided the accompanying letterpress narrative. It made the production truly a family affair. The slightly later Octavo edition contained 155 prints of smaller size.
This unbound lithographic plate depicts a hand-colored image of two martins. One is lying in the grass beside a dead bird and the other is peering down from a boulder. They are in winter coats.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848
printer
Bowen, John T.
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2761
catalog number
60.2761
accession number
228146

The Bottle: VII. Madness...by lithographer George Gebbie

This black and white tinted print depicts the seventh of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking.
Description
This black and white tinted print depicts the seventh of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a crowd gathered around the body of a dead woman. The weapon, a broken bottle, lies on the floor at her feet. The husband stands next the fireplace and is being seized by a policeman. Another policeman consoles the crying daughter. The son, also crying, stands next to the fireplace.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. These prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. Bogue began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. Bogue suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by the lithographer George Gebbie. Gebbie immigrated to the United States from Scotland in 1862. He settled in Philadelphia and became a fine art printer and publisher. He died in 1892.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1871
maker
Gebbie, George
original artist
Cruikshank, George
ID Number
DL.60.2908
catalog number
60.2908
accession number
228146

Quails or Partridges

Colored print of two quail standing on a rock beside a tree stump. A small log house with a shed and wooden fence appears in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two quail standing on a rock beside a tree stump. A small log house with a shed and wooden fence appears in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1830
maker
Childs & Inman
artist
Doughty, Thomas
ID Number
DL.60.2697
catalog number
60.2697
accession number
228146

Country Place of Worship

Black and white print of men, children and horses outside a small wooden church in the woods. A dog and turtle are also depicted.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of men, children and horses outside a small wooden church in the woods. A dog and turtle are also depicted.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
publisher
American Sunday School Union
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2986
catalog number
60.2986
accession number
228146

Washington and His Staff at Valley Forge by Veron Fletcher and Edward Moran

George Washington and five of his officers are featured in a scenic, snowy landscape.
Description
George Washington and five of his officers are featured in a scenic, snowy landscape. Valley Forge was headquarters for the Continental Army in 1777 and 1778 during the Revolutionary War, and is infamous as the place where 2,500 American soldiers died during the winter from exposure and starvation. Based on the artist Veron Fletcher’s painting, which was exhibited at the Smithsonian in February 1855, the print was drawn on stone by Edward Moran, brother of noted artist Thomas Moran. The print came with a two page key that included a biography on each of the soldiers.
Revolutionary War scenes often are used to convey patriotism. This scene highlights the heroic officers rather than depicting the gruesome hardships of war. The officers on horseback are the Marquis de Lafayette, Nathaniel Greene, Anthony Wayne, and Henry Knox. Standing in the background on the right is Col. John Brooks. It should be noted that Alexander Hamilton is not depicted. The building on the viewer's left was the headquarters which was still standing at the time the print was drawn according to the key on the original sketch. Thousands of Americans had prints of Washington in their homes prior to the Civil War. But given the size and $15.00 cost- based on the advertisement by Hensel & Urwiler of Philadelphia- this chromolithograph would have been purchased for a public building, well off school, college, library, or a business such as an eating establishment, or by a wealthy individual.
The original artist for this image was Veron Fletcher, a portrait painter, active in Philadelphia between 1848 and 1870. The lithographer, Edward Moran, was an English immigrant who came to the United States with his family in 1844. Trained by John Hamilton, he is most recognized for a set of 13 paintings which represented the history of marine life in the United States. The publisher was Herline, a company base out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lithographer/engraver Edward Herline, was born in 1825 in what is now in Bavaria, and immigrated to the United States with his brother Gustav in the 1840s. They settled in Philadelphia, and founded Herline & Company, a lithography firm. In 1857, lithographer Daniel Hensel joined the company and the name of the company changed to Herline & Hensel until 1964 when the company obtained another partner and became known as Thurston, Herline & Company.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855
depicted
Washington, George
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Marquis de Lafayette
Greene, Nathanael
Wayne, Anthony
original artist
Fletcher, Veron
lithographer; graphic artist
Moran, Edward
publisher
Herline and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2582
catalog number
60.2582
accession number
228146

Tamany Fish House, on the Pea Shore, R. Delaware.

Color print of a two-story fishing resort on the banks of a river (Delaware). A man is fishing from the end of a dock on which two couples stroll. A rowboat filled with men and women is in the right foreground.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of a two-story fishing resort on the banks of a river (Delaware). A man is fishing from the end of a dock on which two couples stroll. A rowboat filled with men and women is in the right foreground.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Duval, Peter S.
artist
Scott, Thomas M.
ID Number
DL.60.3755
catalog number
60.3755

At the Shop

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1883
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
original artist
Domingo, Francisco
ID Number
GA.14465
accession number
94830
catalog number
14465

Feles Concolor, Linn

This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals.
Description (Brief)
This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound. Reverend John Bachman was a naturalist of note, as well as John James Audubon’s friend and father of both daughter-in-laws, so he provided the accompanying letterpress narrative. It made the production truly a family affair. The slightly later Octavo edition contained 155 prints of smaller size.
This unbound lithographic plate depicts a hand-colored image of a brown male cougar standing over his felled prey. Forested mountains in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2736
catalog number
60.2736
accession number
228146

Date Seller

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14444.02
accession number
94830
catalog number
14444.02

Joseph Leidy

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Gutekunst, Frederic
ID Number
GA.02205
catalog number
02205
accession number
21482

Lepus Aquaticus, Bach.

This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals.
Description (Brief)
This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound. Reverend John Bachman was a naturalist of note, as well as John James Audubon’s friend and father of both daughter-in-laws, so he provided the accompanying letterpress narrative. It made the production truly a family affair. The slightly later Octavo edition contained 155 prints of smaller size.
This unbound lithographic plate depicts a hand-colored image of a brown hare with white underside and black markings, crouching beside a body of water.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1844
artist; publisher
Audubon, John James
printer
Bowen, John T.
ID Number
DL.60.2758
catalog number
60.2758
accession number
228146

The Bottle: VI. Crime...by lithographer George Gebbie

This black and white print depicts the sixth of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man attacking his wife.
Description
This black and white print depicts the sixth of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man attacking his wife. Their son and daughter are trying to intervene. Another woman is entering the room in the background. This series of prints is based on the George Cruikshank Bottle series.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. These prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. Bogue began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. Bogue suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by the lithographer George Gebbie. Gebbie immigrated to the United States from Scotland in 1862. He settled in Philadelphia and became a fine art printer and publisher. He died in 1892.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1871
maker
Gebbie, George
original artist
Cruikshank, George
ID Number
DL.60.2907
catalog number
60.2907
accession number
228146

The Serpent Charmer

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1877
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.14428.02
accession number
94830
catalog number
14428.02

At a Fire

Color print of a fireman standing beside a fire hydrant holding a fire hose which is squirting water in the face of a boy standing on the sidewalk.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of a fireman standing beside a fire hydrant holding a fire hose which is squirting water in the face of a boy standing on the sidewalk.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Weightman, William N.
Harrison, Henry G.
ID Number
DL.60.3298
catalog number
60.3298

The Farmer at Market

Black and white print of a man selling products from a covered wagon to a woman on a city street.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a man selling products from a covered wagon to a woman on a city street. The print was originally pasted on a sheet of manilla paper with several smaller prints cut out and pasted on the other side and is thought to have come from a child's scrapbook.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2992
catalog number
60.2992
accession number
228146

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