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

Joseph Leidy

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Gutekunst, Frederic
ID Number
GA.02206
catalog number
02206
accession number
21482

Putorius Nigripes, Aud. & 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 ferrett with black feet peering down from a low grassy bank to a nest with five speckled eggs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
printer
Bowen, John T.
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2762
catalog number
60.2762
accession number
228146

Portrait of Electa Kinney Ferris

Stephen Ferris made this pencil portrait of his mother from memory in 1890. She had died in 1848 near Yorkville, Illinois, after the birth of her fourteenth child, when Ferris was a boy of thirteen.
Description
Stephen Ferris made this pencil portrait of his mother from memory in 1890. She had died in 1848 near Yorkville, Illinois, after the birth of her fourteenth child, when Ferris was a boy of thirteen. Contrary to a contemporary biography’s claim that he was orphaned at ten, Ferris belonged to a large family which became even larger with his father’s remarriage. As a boy Ferris lived with a maternal uncle who offered him a chance to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia from the age of seventeen.
date made
1898
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.16646
catalog number
16646
accession number
119780

Lepus Sylvaticus, Bachman

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 adult brown rabbits and one baby on a grassy knoll beside leafy plants.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843
artist; publisher
Audubon, John James
printer
Bowen, John T.
ID Number
DL.60.2753
catalog number
60.2753
accession number
228146

A Fourth day Morning View of Friends Meeting House on Cherry Street, Philadelphia by W. L. Breton (artist) and Kennedy & Lucas (lithographers)

This colored print depicts the Friends Meeting House on Cherry Street in Philadelphia. The two-story brick building is framed by a long, high stone fence.
Description
This colored print depicts the Friends Meeting House on Cherry Street in Philadelphia. The two-story brick building is framed by a long, high stone fence. Parishioners are walking along the outside of the fence in modest, proper attire: women in floor-length skirts, bonnets, and parasols; while the men wear long frock coats, breeches, and brimmed hats.
A Friends Meeting House is a building designated by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where religious ceremonies and community meetings are usually held. Quakers have always reserved the word “church” to mean the body of people who make up the worshipping community, not to refer to a bricks and mortar building. The hallmark of a meeting house is extreme simplicity and the absence of any liturgical symbols. Meeting houses built in a traditional style usually had two meeting rooms: one for the main meeting for worship, and another where the women's business meeting could be held. Equal seating is along the sides of the room so there is no front or back.
This print was produced by William L. Breton and the lithographic firm of Kennedy & Lucas. William L. Breton was a watercolorist and lithographer known for creating scenes of Philadelphia life between 1825 and 1855. Breton was born in England ca. 1773 and immigrated to Philadelphia about 1824. He worked from the late 1820s throughout the early 1830s with Kennedy & Lucas. William B. Lucas was a Philadelphia gilder who owned a looking glass and print shop. He established what was said to be the first commercial lithography firm in Philadelphia in 1828. Within a few months another gilder, David Kennedy, became a partner in the firm. David Kennedy was also a carver and shop owner, and he managed a Philadelphia tavern in the 1920s. The company continued until Lucas died in 1833. The collaboration between Breton and Kennedy and Lucas resulted in a whole series of lithographic views of Philadelphia churches of different denominations.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
after 1828
maker
Kennedy & Lucas
Breton, W.L.
ID Number
DL.60.2971
catalog number
60.2971
accession number
228146

The War in Virginia, Lieutenant General Grant in a Council of War at Massaponax Church. 1864.

General Ulysses S. Grant, was born Hiram Ulysses Grant at Point Pleasant, Ohio, in 1822. After attending West Point, he gained distinction fighting as a captain in the Mexican-American War.
Description
General Ulysses S. Grant, was born Hiram Ulysses Grant at Point Pleasant, Ohio, in 1822. After attending West Point, he gained distinction fighting as a captain in the Mexican-American War. When the fighting ended, he was assigned to isolated frontier posts, where his heavy drinking interfered with his duties, leading him to resign in 1854. At the outbreak of the Civil War six years later, he immediately enlisted in the Union Army, and was promoted to brigadier general in July of 1861. In July of 1863, he captured Vicksburg, an event often seen as a turning point in the war, and was given command of all Union armies in March of 1864. Brutal engagements with Confederate forces at the battles of Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor decimated Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, and the Virginian surrendered his battered force to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. After the war, Grant’s fame carried him to the White House, and he served two terms of Presidency, from 1869 to 1877.
This 1884 print by Christian Inger shows Grant, surrounded by his generals at a council of war in Massaponax, Virginia, shortly his promotion to general-in-chief. The men sit on church pews removed from the nearby Baptist church. Grants sits at the base of two trees, easily recognizable by the characteristic cloud of cigar smoke rising above him. The other generals are identified by a list on the bottom margin of the print, and include Sherman, Hancock, and Meade. Behind the men, Union soldiers care for the officers’ horses, and rows of cannons are displayed in the far background, ready for transport.
This print was based on a photograph by Timothy H. O’Sullivan (1840-1882), who managed to capture the composition from the second floor of the nearby Massaponax Baptist Church. His image was printed by Scottish-born photograph Alexander Gardner (1821-1882).
The creator of the print, Christian Inger (1814-c.1895), was born in Germany and immigrated to America in 1854. He settled in Philadelphia, where he was employed by P.S. Duval from the mid-1850s to the mid-1860s. Between the 1850s and 1870s, Inger also created lithographs for the prominent firms of Herline & Hensel and Thomas Sinclair. In 1859, he also established his own firm with his son, Egmont. Inger’s work included portraits, facsimiles of paintings, Revolutionary War and Civil War scenes, and birds-eye views of Philadelphia and the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1886
depicted
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
maker
Inger, Christian
ID Number
DL.60.2609
catalog number
60.2609
accession number
228146

Wild Horses

Colored print of three wild horses being approached by a mounted rider. Background shows other men on horseback attempting to round up additional wild horses.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of three wild horses being approached by a mounted rider. Background shows other men on horseback attempting to round up additional wild horses.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1832-1834
maker
Brown, M.E.D.
ID Number
DL.60.2698
catalog number
60.2698
accession number
228146

Log Cabin Politicians

Hand colored lithograph by John Townsend Bowen (1801-ca 1856) refers to the log cabin campaign of William Henry Harrison. It is one of many that depicts several men drinking, smoking, and presumably discussing politics.
Description (Brief)
Hand colored lithograph by John Townsend Bowen (1801-ca 1856) refers to the log cabin campaign of William Henry Harrison. It is one of many that depicts several men drinking, smoking, and presumably discussing politics. Issued in 1841, shortly after the election, the print was published in Philadelphia by G. W. Burgess & Co., and painted by William Hall. The men are in front of a building labeled the "Harrison Hotel," with a sign indicating L. Stilman as proprietor. Signs on the hotel indicate a meeting for Van Buren and election broadsides for William Henry Harrison, President and John Tyler, Vice President. The hotel is clearly not a log cabin.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841
publisher
G. W. Burgess and Company
maker
Bowen, John T.
artist
Hall, William
ID Number
DL.60.2409
catalog number
60.2409
accession number
228146

Geomys Douglassii, Richardson.

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 three brown rats at the entrance of a prairie hole which has a small mound of dirt behind it. There is a body of water and foothills in the far background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
maker
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2750
catalog number
60.2750
accession number
228146

The Rescue of John Wesley from Fire by Willam Smith

This colored print depicts Anglican minister, theologian and Methodist Church founder John Wesley as a child, being rescued from a fire. At left, a man stands on the shoulders of another taking Wesley from a second story window.
Description
This colored print depicts Anglican minister, theologian and Methodist Church founder John Wesley as a child, being rescued from a fire. At left, a man stands on the shoulders of another taking Wesley from a second story window. At right, another man, Wesley's father, kneels giving thanks for his son's safety. Surrounding men and women assist with putting out the fire and rescuing animals, while others huddle in fear.
This dramatic story is not apocryphal. The parishioners of Epworth, England, strongly disliked the vicar, Samuel Wesley. An angry mob set fire to the rectory on February 9, 1709. His young son, John, actually was saved through the intervention of neighbors.
John Wesley (1703-1791) was the founding founder of the Methodist faith. One of England's greatest spiritual leaders, he played a major role in the revival of religion in 18th Century English and Scottish life. He graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford University, in 1720 and later became a fellow. While at Oxford, he became active in a religious club nicknamed the “methodists” by its critics because of their methodical study and devotion. Finding the Anglican bishops unsympathetic and unwilling to open their churches to him, Wesley began an itinerant ministry that lasted more than 50 years. Methodism had a significant impact on society. It brought religion to masses of people who, through the shifts of population brought about by the industrial revolution, were not being reached by the Anglican Church.
John Wesley, along with his brother Charles, first brought an evangelical brand of methodical Anglicanism to colonial Georgia from 1735 to 1737. Years later, in February 1784, he chartered the first Methodist Church in the United States. Despite the fact that he was an Anglican, Wesley saw the need to provide church structure for his followers after the Anglican Church abandoned its American believers during the American Revolution. The Methodist church expanded rapidly across the American continent. The traditions of open-air services and circuit-riding preachers fit perfectly with the American frontier. By 1830, Methodists formed the largest denomination in the U.S.
This print was produced by William Smith who was a picture frame manufacturer in Philadelphia from 1856-60. By 1860, he was selling pictures and soon afterwards began selling prints. His products included previously published and original works.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
n.d.
depicted
Wesley, John
Wesley, Samuel
publisher
Smith, William
ID Number
DL.60.2484
catalog number
60.2484
accession number
228146

Sunday in the Country

Black and white print of two women riding side-saddle in the country. The print was originally pasted on a sheet of manilla paper with several smaller prints cut out and pasted on the other side andis thought to have come from a child's scrapbook.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of two women riding side-saddle in the country. The print was originally pasted on a sheet of manilla paper with several smaller prints cut out and pasted on the other side andis thought to have come from a child's scrapbook.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2999A
catalog number
60.2999a
accession number
228146

Musician

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.14446.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14446.01

Lepus Californicus, Gray.

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 and dark markings, sitting beside cactus and low grasses.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847
printer
Bowen, John T.
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2759
catalog number
60.2759
accession number
228146

Lapus Nuttallii, 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 two hares on a grassy knoll surrounded by wild flowers and grass.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
printer
Bowen, John T.
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
maker
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2763
catalog number
60.2763
accession number
228146

Sciurus Colliaei, Rich

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 brown squirrels climbing a dead tree branch upon which grows a vine.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2743
catalog number
60.2743
accession number
228146

View of San Francisco.1850

Black and white print of a town on a hilly coastline. Numerous sailing vessels are anchored in its harbor.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a town on a hilly coastline. Numerous sailing vessels are anchored in its harbor.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1850
maker
Duval, Peter S.
artist
Kuchel, C.
ID Number
DL.60.3823
catalog number
60.3823

Mrs. Kaulboch (Son)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
last quarter 1800
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14459.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14459.01

Portrait of Mariano Fortuny

This profile portrait of Spanish painter and graphic artist Mariano Fortuny is one of two in the NMAH collection that Stephen Ferris made in 1875, soon after Fortuny’s untimely death at age thirty-six in Rome, Italy, on November 21, 1874.Gerome Ferris, in a note on the mount, ref
Description
This profile portrait of Spanish painter and graphic artist Mariano Fortuny is one of two in the NMAH collection that Stephen Ferris made in 1875, soon after Fortuny’s untimely death at age thirty-six in Rome, Italy, on November 21, 1874.
Gerome Ferris, in a note on the mount, refers to the print as an etching on glass. According to a contemporary, Stephen Ferris “was one of the first artists to practice etching on glass as it was miscalled at the time.” The cliché-verre process, as it known today, originated in France in the nineteenth century. The artist coats a glass plate with an opaque substance and then draws an image on it with a pointed instrument such as an etching needle. He then lays the plate image-side down on a sheet of photosensitized paper and exposes it to light.
This print and a second portrait of Fortuny by Ferris were the only two American etched portraits shown in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. The revival of interest in etching that began in Europe during the 1860s did not really take off in the United States until about 1880, but visitors to the exhibition saw a modest number of American etchings at the beginning of the movement.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1873
1875
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14552
catalog number
14552
accession number
94830

Stage Coach on the Mountains

Black and white print of a stagecoach being pulled by four horses, with five passengers and two drivers.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a stagecoach being pulled by four horses, with five passengers and two drivers.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2990
catalog number
60.2990
accession number
228146

Sherman Black Hawk

A black and white print of a black stallion running on a hastily erected race track, pulling a sulky. The rider is in a vest, tight pants, a white shirt, and a Homberg hat. The horse’s neck is disproportionately wide.
Description
A black and white print of a black stallion running on a hastily erected race track, pulling a sulky. The rider is in a vest, tight pants, a white shirt, and a Homberg hat. The horse’s neck is disproportionately wide. The center of ring contains two center pole tents with banners which read M…RSHAL and PR…DENT. A judge’s stand is in a circular grandstand with cone-shaped roof and American flag. Spectators line the periphery. The flag in the center of grounds is labeled: US Cr… Society. The scene is the US Agricultural Fair held in West Philadelphia on October 8, 1856.
Sherman Black Hawk was foaled on May 30, 1845 in Bridport, Vermont. He was sired by Black Hawk and Smith Mare, both Morgans, and owned by B.J. Myrick. He was a direct descendent of the founding Sire of the Morgan breed, “Figure” owned by Justin Morgan. At 15.2 hands, Sherman Black Hawk was reputed to be spirited, compact, and well made, and he could trot a mile in 2:40. This enabled him to win first place at both the Vermont State Fair in 1854 and the US Agricultural Fair in Pennsylvania (pictured here) in 1856. The man in the picture is thought to be Hiram Woodruff, a well-known and successful driver of the time. 50,000 attended the race at the 1856 Agricultural Fair in West Philadelphia, PA. Temporary open stands were constructed to seat up to 8,000 people, but people also flooded the infield to watch the main racing attractions.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Bufford, John Henry
original artist
Humphrey, Charles S.
ID Number
DL.60.3529
catalog number
60.3529

The Draymen

Black and white print of two draymen with an empty horse-drawn carts racing on a cobblestone street. A dog runs along in the foreground.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of two draymen with an empty horse-drawn carts racing on a cobblestone street. A dog runs along in the foreground. 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.60.2991
catalog number
60.2991
accession number
228146

Capra Americana, Blainville

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 white goats, one standing and one lying, on a rocky cliff in a mountainous setting.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2741
catalog number
60.2741
accession number
228146

Myodes Hudsonius, Rich

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 large white lemming and a smaller brown lemming crouching on boulders amidst wildflowers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1847
artist
Audubon, John Woodhouse
printer
Bowen, John T.
publisher
Audubon, John James
ID Number
DL.60.2738
catalog number
60.2738
accession number
228146

Rock Ptarmigan

Colored print of three rock ptarmigan (birds) among the rushes.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of three rock ptarmigan (birds) among the rushes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1840
artist
Tholey, Charles P.
Elliot, D.G.
ID Number
DL.60.2710
catalog number
60.2710
accession number
228146

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