Art

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.

Black and white comic print of a young woman with a sad expression and downcast eyes, standing behind a garden gate. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white comic print of a young woman with a sad expression and downcast eyes, standing behind a garden gate. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875
maker
Vance, Fred T.
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2846
catalog number
60.2846
accession number
228146
Colored print of a woman watching a young girl harness a large dog to a small open carriage. The woman is seated on a stone ledge. A lake and mountains appear in the background. A large ornamental urn sits on stone balustrade near the carriage.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a woman watching a young girl harness a large dog to a small open carriage. The woman is seated on a stone ledge. A lake and mountains appear in the background. A large ornamental urn sits on stone balustrade near the carriage.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
maker
Edmund Foerster and Company
Silber, F.
ID Number
DL.60.2473
catalog number
60.2473
accession number
228146
This 1877 black and white memorial print depicts an idealized cemetery and the "Promised Land," separated by a river. On the left side, people can be seen entering the cemetery in carriages.
Description
This 1877 black and white memorial print depicts an idealized cemetery and the "Promised Land," separated by a river. On the left side, people can be seen entering the cemetery in carriages. On the right side, a small boat ferries people across the river where they are met by a group of white robed figures, likely angels. The memorial text to a Mrs. Eratus Kilbourn is located in the center, however there is not indcation as to which Eratus Kilbourn and which wife.
This print was produced by Strobridge and Company. The Strobridge lithography company was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio about 1847 by lithographer Elijah C. Middleton. Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 lithographer W. R. Wallace and bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company was especially well known for circus, theater and movie posters. After leaving Strobridge and Company, Elijah Middleton became known as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster and other American historical figures.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1876
publisher
Pittman & Co.
maker
Strobridge and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2927
catalog number
60.2927
accession number
228146
This colored print is an outdoor scene of a young man in tattered clothing on his knee asking forgiveness from his father. The father is weeping tears of joy at his return. Behind them a small band plays while a dozen people dance in celebration.
Description
This colored print is an outdoor scene of a young man in tattered clothing on his knee asking forgiveness from his father. The father is weeping tears of joy at his return. Behind them a small band plays while a dozen people dance in celebration. The setting is the courtyard of a grand white country mansion.
The parable of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son is among the best- known Christian morality tales and is found in Luke 15:11-32. The youngest of the two sons demands his share of his father’s estate which the father gives him. Shortly after, he runs off and squanders the wealth “in wild living.” Finding himself destitute, he returns to his father, repents his ways, and begs to be allowed to serve as a hired servant. The father rejoices at the return of his son “who was lost and is found.” Meanwhile, the obedient, older son is angry and refuses to join the celebration. His father pleads with him to forgive and to understand his joy.
This print was produced by Henry R. Robinson, who was a caricaturist and lithographer in New York City. He was listed as a carver and gilder from 1833-34, as a caricaturist from 1836-43 and as a lithographer and print publisher from 1843-51. Henry Robinson was known for political prints that championed the causes of the Whig Party (which later merged with the Republican Party) and satirized the opposing Democratic Party. Historian Peter C. Welsh has called Henry Robinson the "Printmaker to the Whig Party."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1840
maker
Robinson, Henry R.
ID Number
DL.60.2941
catalog number
60.2941
accession number
228146
Black and white comic print of a boy and girl holding hoops and sticks and calling out with their mouths wide open. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white comic print of a boy and girl holding hoops and sticks and calling out with their mouths wide open. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875
maker
Vance, Fred T.
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2860
catalog number
60.2860
accession number
228146
This color print is a circular allegorical image labeled 'THE WORLD' depicting the divergent paths of good and evil while on life's journey.
Description
This color print is a circular allegorical image labeled 'THE WORLD' depicting the divergent paths of good and evil while on life's journey. The path splits as the child leaves the school house, turning left toward the on the lower center and then up the right side of the print that leads from the House of God to Eternal Life. Among the architectural structures portrayed on the Good side are a church, a schoolhouse, a peaceful home, and a college with an American flag flying above it. The key words for the path to Good and the Eternal Life through "The Word" are: OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS, TRUTH, WISDOM, INDUSTRY, HEALTH, AVOIDING EVIL, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PURE OF HEART, FAITH IN CHRIST, HUMILITY, .Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth/ the heart. (Proverbs 21:2).toward THE WORD.
The other path has the child turning right up the left side of the print and starts with “disobedience to parents and teachers,” leads from the House of Sin to a tavern, a States Prison to Destruction and Everlasting Punishment. The path to destruction depicts a demon with a pitchfork among the fires of Hell and includes the words: DISOBEDIENCE TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS, DISEASE, SHAME, LUSTING, , DEATH, VANITY, PROFANE, IGNORANCE, LYING PRIDE, FALSE, GAMBLING, GAMING, RUM, INTEMPERANCE, FIGHTING, DUELING, HYPOCRISY, CHEATING, SWEARING, FORGERY, ADULTRY, ROBBERY, MURDER, GALLOWS, EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT, and DISTRUCTION.
This pictorial map for children vividly illustrates the moral choices in life, according to the teachings of Christianity. This genre had been popularized by two German-American printers in Pennsylvania, Gustav S. Peters of Harrisburg and Herman William Villee in Lancaster. Hailer’s distinctive map belongs to this local tradition.
John Hailer (1825-1906) was an artist and publisher, though he may also have had other professions as his Civil War draft record indicates in 1863 he was a currier. His firm was located in Bath, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1862
maker
Hailer, John
ID Number
DL.60.2955
catalog number
60.2955
accession number
228146
Black and white print depicting six small views of approaches to the Mammoth Grove. Three are "Views of the Mining Town of Murphy's The Starting Place for the Grove" and three are "Views from the Murphy or Big Tree Route over the Sierra Nevada."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print depicting six small views of approaches to the Mammoth Grove. Three are "Views of the Mining Town of Murphy's The Starting Place for the Grove" and three are "Views from the Murphy or Big Tree Route over the Sierra Nevada."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1862
maker
Vischer, Edward
ID Number
DL.60.3832
catalog number
60.3832
Black and white print of a row of three-story townhouses. A couple on horseback and pedestrians are on the street and sidewalk in front of the houses.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a row of three-story townhouses. A couple on horseback and pedestrians are on the street and sidewalk in front of the houses.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
After 1854
n.d.
date made
after 1854
artist
Hill, John H.
ID Number
DL.60.3705
catalog number
60.3705
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1845
depicted
Steele, Osman N.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.2590
catalog number
60.2590
accession number
228146
Rip Van Winkle, a short story by celebrated American author Washington Irving, was first published in 1819 without illustrations in “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” Best known for his popular stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving achieved acc
Description
Rip Van Winkle, a short story by celebrated American author Washington Irving, was first published in 1819 without illustrations in “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” Best known for his popular stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving achieved acclaim in Europe and the U.S. over the course of his successful writing career. Rip Van Winkle was included in “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent” while Irving was living in Europe. Thus, he was one of the earliest American authors to survive merely on his writing. Irving’s stories have remained an emblem of American culture as they were some of the first short stories that aimed to entertain rather than educate. The two best known Irving stories- Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow have inspired artists to create beautiful illustrations like the one included in this print.
The gothic story Rip Van Winkle tells of an ordinary 19th century man who lives in the Dutch Kaatskills (currently the Catskills of New York). He struggles with his nagging wife, Dame Van Winkle, and in an effort to escape her on an especially bad day, he flees to the woods with his dog and his gun. While in the woods, he meets a stranger who is a representation of the spirits of Hendrick Hudson, and is instructed to serve these spirits a precious drink. Tempted, he tries the drink as well and ultimately becomes so drunk that he falls into a deep sleep. When he wakes, he thinks that it is merely the next morning, but it becomes clear that 20 years have passed. He is now an old widow with Loyalist sentiments that show he is living in the past, prior to the American Revolution. The story ends with Rip Van Winkle living a peaceful life in the home of his daughter, finally free from his wife’s nagging.
In this print, Rip Van Winkle has awakened from his deep slumber dazed, confused, and looking twenty years older. He treks through his old village with his long gray beard and shaggy clothes, ultimately making it to his house, which he sees is abandoned and aged. He notices a black dog that looks much like Wolf, but the dog snarls at him causing him to become sad at the thought of even his own dog forgetting about him. In the background of the print, one can see the Kaatskill Mountains, where Rip’s life was forever changed.
Sarony, Major, & Knapp was one of the largest lithographic firms at the end of the 19th and the early of the 20th centuries. However, before it achieved this success it started out small in 1843 when Napoleon Sarony and James P. Major joined together to start a business. Later in 1857, Joseph F. Knapp joined the company making it Sarony, Major, & Knapp. At the time that this was printed, Knapp was not a part of the business, so it was just Sarony & Major.
Felix O. C. Darley (1822-1888), the artist behind the twelve best-known illustrations for The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, is considered one of America’s best illustrators. The publisher was the American Art Union, (1839-1857) a subscription organization created to educate the public about American art and artists while providing support for American artists. For $5.00 members would receive admissions to the gallery showing, a yearly report, and an engraving of an original work, as well as any benefits each chapter might provide. Two special editions of the story, each with a set of six of Darley’s illustrations were published; the special edition including this illustration was published in 1850. This print is bound with five others at the back of a rebound book. The cover is of the earlier Rip Van Winkle edition published for the American Art Union but the title page and text are of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848
maker
Sarony & Major
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
ID Number
DL.60.2446
catalog number
60.2446
accession number
228146
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Talbot, William Henry Fox
ID Number
GA.16083
accession number
100963
catalog number
16083
Color and black and white prints bound together illustrating the scenery and geology of Massachusetts. There are nine views 1) Autumnal Scenery. View in Amherst. 2) A View in Hadley. 3) Gorge Between Holyoke and Tom. 4) West View from Holyoke. 5) South Hadley Falls.
Description (Brief)
Color and black and white prints bound together illustrating the scenery and geology of Massachusetts. There are nine views 1) Autumnal Scenery. View in Amherst. 2) A View in Hadley. 3) Gorge Between Holyoke and Tom. 4) West View from Holyoke. 5) South Hadley Falls. 6) Sugar Loaf Mountain, Deerfield. 7) Confluence of Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers. 8) Turner's Falls. 9) Gorge of Glen, -Leyden; four plates containing drawings of organic remains; four maps of sections in Massachusetts and Connecticut; and a "Tabular View of the Rocks and their embedded Minerals in Massachusetts".
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1833
maker
Pendleton's Lithography
ID Number
DL.60.3696
catalog number
60.3696
Black and white print on blue paper depicting three views, the largest is of a sprawling settlement (Jackson) with a variety of houses on rolling terrain.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print on blue paper depicting three views, the largest is of a sprawling settlement (Jackson) with a variety of houses on rolling terrain. Two smaller views show "Butte City", a group of frame houses with picket fences, and "The Gate", a camp of wooden shacks and false front houses. This is an unused folded letter sheet with the image on the first page.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
printer
Britton & Rey
artist
Kuchel & Dressel
ID Number
DL.60.3819
catalog number
60.3819
This hand colored commemorative portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln lists the President’s birth and death dates below his image.
Description
This hand colored commemorative portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln lists the President’s birth and death dates below his image. (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) It also includes images of three of his past residences: his childhood home at Knob Creek in Kentucky, his house in Springfield, Illinois, and his first home in New Salem, Illinois.
Edward Hooker Ensign partnered with Erastus Bridgman and Thomas Fanning in 1854, forming Ensign, Bridgman, & Fanning. Their business operated until 1863, when Fanning left, and then it continued as just Ensign & Bridgman until 1868. Based in New York City, this firm primarily produced illustrated maps, but produced this commemorative Lincoln print after his assassination, capitalizing on the popularity of the late President’s image.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1868
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
maker
Ensign & Bridgman
ID Number
DL.60.3193
catalog number
60.3193
Black and white print depicting four scenes of winter in California. An interior scene depicts three miners buying expensive supplies, while three exterior scenes show them trudging through snow and mired in mud.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print depicting four scenes of winter in California. An interior scene depicts three miners buying expensive supplies, while three exterior scenes show them trudging through snow and mired in mud. This is an unused folded letter sheet with the image on its first page.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Britton & Rey
ID Number
DL.60.3814
catalog number
60.3814
This hand-colored allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking in a series of symbols designed to illustrate the dangers of drinking alcohol.
Description
This hand-colored allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking in a series of symbols designed to illustrate the dangers of drinking alcohol. A train labeled "Distillery" is stopped at "Drunkard's Curve Station." It has left a tranquil valley and is heading toward doom in a land of evil serpents (as in Eden), skeletons, a vampire bat, and what appears to be a dangerous route to destruction, with fictional station names like "Horrorland," "Maniacville", "Prisonton" and “Woeland." The train runs on grain alcohol with the piston working in a decanter. Numerous travelers who can no longer pay the fare are lying abandoned, sick, or passed out along the side of the tracks, with an ambulance in the lower right, while others appear to be looking for ways to escape. Station names bear a cautionary tale of scriptural citations along the left and right borders and below the image is a considerable amount of interpretive text.
This print was created by lithographer Emile Ackermann, printed by Charles H. Crosby, issued by the American Seamen’s Friend Society, and published by Reverend Steadman Wright Hanks in his book The Crystal River Turned Upon the Black Valley Railroad and Black Valley Country -- A Temperance Allegory (also known as The Black Valley: The Railroad and the Country. Hanks called the print "probably the most successful temperance lecture in the country," and in 1879 claimed there were more than 3 million copies in various forms that had been distributed. Stedman Wright Hanks (1811-1889) was a Congregational minister in Lowell, Massachusetts, as well as an author, artist, and fervent supporter of both the temperance and anti-slavery movements. Hanks spoke to audiences around the United States about the evils of overindulging in alcohol. In addition to his book about the Black Valley Railroad, his published works included Sailor Boys, or, Light on the Sea, and Mutineers of the "Bounty. He also compiled a temperance song book and served as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court. He is noted for performing the sermon commemorating John Quincy Adams death at the St. John Street Congregational Church.
Lithographer Emil F. Ackermann (1840-1900) was born in Dresden, Germany in 1840 and came to the United States in 1848 and built a reputation as a lithographer, engraver, and designer. Ackermann eventually went to work for the lithography firm of J.H. Bufford and Sons, which produced another version of this print.
Charles H. Crosby (1819-1896) was a printer working in Boston, Massachusetts and a partner in the firm Moore & Crosby and Charles H. Crosby & Company. He employed numerous skilled artists but was a poor businessman who declared bankruptcy several times.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
copyright holder
Hanks, S. W.
maker
Ackermann, Emil
Crosby, Charles H.
ID Number
DL.60.2889
catalog number
60.2889
accession number
228146
Thomas Moran etched this view of a mission church in New Mexico in 1881 after a photograph by friend and traveling companion William Henry Jackson (1843–1942). Moran had met Jackson in 1871 on Ferdinand V.
Description
Thomas Moran etched this view of a mission church in New Mexico in 1881 after a photograph by friend and traveling companion William Henry Jackson (1843–1942). Moran had met Jackson in 1871 on Ferdinand V. Hayden’s Yellowstone expedition, the first government-sponsored survey of that area. Jackson and Moran worked side by side recording views. While Moran’s paintings of the West made his reputation, fewer than one-fifth of his etchings depict Western or Mexican scenes. His signature “TYM” at lower left stands for Thomas “Yellowstone” Moran.
The church shown in this print was replaced by a stone building in the early 20th century, and the San Juan Pueblo recently changed its name to Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. It lies twenty-five miles north of Santa Fe.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1881
Associated Date
1881
graphic artist
Moran, Thomas
photographer
Jackson, William Henry
ID Number
GA.14750
catalog number
14750
accession number
94830
Colored print of an outdoor scene of a group of men and children with long rifles standing together in front of a large building and under a tree, preparing to shoot turkeys in the distant snow-covered field.
Description (Brief)
Colored print of an outdoor scene of a group of men and children with long rifles standing together in front of a large building and under a tree, preparing to shoot turkeys in the distant snow-covered field. Another group of similar men engage in the same activity in the background. Everyone is wearing tall bots and dressed in mid 19th Century outdoor clothing.
John Childs, was an engraver, lithographer, artist, and print colorist active in New York between the years 1836 to 1844, and in Philadelphia from 1848 through the 1860's . For a brief period while in New York, he published a quantity of political cartoons.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1862
maker
Childs, John
ID Number
DL.60.2416
catalog number
60.2416
accession number
228146
Color print of a large number of horse-drawn carriages on the road in front of a two-story brick road house (Turner"s Hotel).
Description (Brief)
Color print of a large number of horse-drawn carriages on the road in front of a two-story brick road house (Turner"s Hotel). Eighteen of the horses are numbered and indentified in a key below the image.
Description
A color print of a crowded road in front of a large roadhouse (Turner Hotel, Rape Ferry Rd.) filled with carriages and spirited horses. All of the carriages are occupied by fashionably dressed men. The buggies are without tops – they have flat floors and straight footboards. The roadhouse is in the colonial style. A two story structure stands with a large ring in the rear, three dormer windows above, and a veranda across the front. Here guests stand and watch. Stable boys wait outside the barn in the background. The grounds are well-kept with trees, shrubbery, and picket fences.
Point Breeze Park in Philadelphia was founded in 1855 and raced thoroughbreds for the first time in 1860. It was eventually converted into an automobile race course in the 1900s after trotting faded as a popular sport.
Pharazyn was a Philadelphia lithographer and colorist. He was born 1822 and died in 1902. He had offices at 103 South Street in 1856 and at 1725 Lombard Street in 1870. Made prints for different magazines, as well as fine prints for patrons. Created a large colored folio “Trotting Cracks of Philadelphia Returning from the Race at Point Breeze Park” in 1870. The horses are all named as usual in the subtitle, but the artists name isn’t given; this was normal as the horses were more important than the actual artists.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1870
maker
Pharazyn, H.
ID Number
DL.60.3557
catalog number
60.3557
A black and white print of a black horse. The muscles, veins, mane, and tail are detailed. A rough sketch of the open country and grass house is in the background.Currently not on view
Description
A black and white print of a black horse. The muscles, veins, mane, and tail are detailed. A rough sketch of the open country and grass house is in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1829
copyright holder
Harrison, Thomas
artist
Swett, Moses
maker
Pendleton's Lithography
ID Number
DL.60.2821
catalog number
60.2821
accession number
228146
Black and white print of two women sitting side saddle on horses in front of a store. They are being greeted by a man who is about to help them dismount. Colored vignettes have been pasted on the margins.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of two women sitting side saddle on horses in front of a store. They are being greeted by a man who is about to help them dismount. Colored vignettes have been pasted on the margins. The print was originally pasted on a sheet of manilla paper with several smaller prints cut out and pasted on the other side and on the front and is 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.60.2994
catalog number
60.2994
accession number
228146
This black and white tinted print depicts one 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 one 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 outdoor scene of a mother, father and older daughter standing outside a wine and spirits shop while the son begs for alms in the street. The mother holds an ailing toddler while the father pockets a bottle of liquor.
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. The 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. He 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. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1847
maker
Michelin, Francis
Moody, David William
original artist
Cruikshank, George
ID Number
DL.60.2897
catalog number
60.2897
accession number
228146
This hand colored print depicts a man dressed in ragged clothes seated in a farmyard tending four pigs that are eating.
Description
This hand colored print depicts a man dressed in ragged clothes seated in a farmyard tending four pigs that are eating. As the subtitle explains, “He would have filled his belly with the Husks that the swine did not eat.”
The parable of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son is among the best-known Christian morality tales and is found in Luke 15:11-32. The youngest of the two sons demands his share of his father’s estate which the father gives him. Shortly after, he runs off and squanders the wealth “in wild living.” Finding himself destitute, he returns to his father, repents his ways, and begs to be allowed to serve as a hired servant. The father rejoices at the return of his son “who was lost and is found.” Meanwhile, the obedient, older son is angry and refuses to join the celebration. His father pleads with him to forgive and to understand his joy.
This print was originally produced as an engraving by Amos Doolittle and later printed by the lithographic firm of D. W. Kellogg and Company. Amos Doolittle (1754-1832) was an American engraver who was trained as a jeweler and silversmith. He lived in Connecticut and was especially well known for his four engravings of the battles of Lexington and Concord. He also engraved Biblical scenes, bookplates and portraits.
Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded D. W. Kellogg and Company in Hartford, Connecticut in 1830. Even before its first retail store opened in 1834, the D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg was responsible for the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company, it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
A nearly identical print (60.2946) was made by the Kellogg family about a decade later. Print (60.2940 depicts the same theme with a different image by a different publisher
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1838
maker
D.W. Kellogg and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2923
catalog number
60.2923
accession number
228146
Color print, proof before letters, of a trotting horse (Mambrino Champion) standing in a stable with a finished wood floor. Blanket in corner bears his name.A color print of a trotting horse standing in a stable. Three of his ankles are white and his mane and tail are black.
Description (Brief)
Color print, proof before letters, of a trotting horse (Mambrino Champion) standing in a stable with a finished wood floor. Blanket in corner bears his name.
Description
A color print of a trotting horse standing in a stable. Three of his ankles are white and his mane and tail are black. He has a sleek coat and powerful chest muscles. The floor of the stable is beautifully finished with wood. A blanket in the corner contains horse’s name.
Foaled in 1861, Mambrino Champion was a member of the Mambrino trotting stock that dominated in Kentucky beginning with Mambrino Chief. His greatest achievement was trotting the last quarter mile in 39 seconds at the Goshen Horse Fair in 1866.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1867
artist
Cameron, John
ID Number
DL.60.3543
catalog number
60.3543

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