The Ferris Collection of Prints - Introduction
The Museum’s Graphic Arts Collection, the oldest print-collecting unit in the Smithsonian, focuses on the technical and social history of printmaking to document how prints are made and used. Smithsonian art museums collect works on paper selected for aesthetic reasons, but the National Museum of American History (formerly the Museum of History and Technology) takes a broad view of visual culture.
Our prints illustrate technical developments and cultural changes. They represent all kinds of graphic works that have influenced American society. The collection has always included examples from many periods and countries, fine-art prints as well as popular and commercial graphic art, together with the plates, blocks, and tools used to produce prints. In 1996 the Museum presented an exhibition on 150 years of Smithsonian print collecting, Building a National Collection.
One of the largest print collections ever received by the Smithsonian was donated by the Ferris family between 1927 and 1932. Stephen James Ferris (1835–1915), a Philadelphia painter and etcher, collected over 2,000 European and American prints, both reproductive and original, representing old master and contemporary printmakers. The collection incorporated a variety of artistic subjects, compositions, and styles. Ferris may well have mined it for inspiration for his own work, but he was also deeply interested in art for its own sake. He and his family and friends would have simply enjoyed studying the images.
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"The Ferris Collection of Prints - Introduction" showing 19 items.
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S. J. Ferris Self-portrait
- Description
- The Philadelphia Society of Etchers commissioned this self-portrait of Stephen James Ferris in 1880. Ferris was a founding member of the society, which formed the same year, three years after the founding of New York Etching Club, the first in the United States. Ferris had seen the etching process demonstrated in 1860 by John Sartain, an engraver. In 1875 Ferris produced one of his earliest etchings to be commercially published in the United States, a portrait of Mariano Fortuny (1838–1874).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1880
- graphic artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- ID Number
- GA*14388
- accession number
- 94830
- catalog number
- 14388
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Barbizon School Artists
- Description
- Stephen James Ferris etched this group portrait The Barbizon School: Seven French Artists as a frontispiece for the auction catalog of works from the J. C. Runkle collection, sold in New York in March 1883. Artists of the Barbizon School, named after a rural village in France near which many of them worked outdoors, specialized in realistic landscapes and animal paintings. Samuel P. Avery had arranged the sale and the catalog, which was illustrated with fifteen etchings by four American etchers. This print marks the first time that an auction catalog contained an original etching, as opposed to the usual reproductive etchings. The New York Times gave a favorable review of Ferris’s print.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1883
- publisher
- Avery, Samuel Putnam
- graphic artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- ID Number
- GA*14508
- accession number
- 94830
- catalog number
- 14508
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of Samuel P. Avery
- Description
- Samuel Putnam Avery (1818–1904), a New York-based art dealer and print collector, made annual buying excursions to Europe from 1867 to 1882 to look for decorative arts and paintings, some of which he commissioned directly from the artists. He also searched for prints to add to his own collection, seeking not just the original etchings valued today but also reproductive works by artists like Flameng, Jacquemart, and Rajon. French prints made up the core of his collection, almost 18,000 of which are now in the New York Public Library. Léopold Flameng etched this portrait of Avery in 1876 after a painting by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta. The Avery family gave the painting to the Metropolitan Museum in 1904. Madrazo (1841–1920) was a fashionable portrait and genre painter, resident in New York and Paris, who was promoted by Avery.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1876
- original artist
- Madrazo y Garreta, Raimundo de
- graphic artist
- Flameng, Léopold
- ID Number
- GA*14576
- catalog number
- 14576
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of Lawrence Alma-Tadema
- Description
- Paul Rajon etched the portrait of Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) during one of his annual six-month visits to England. Rajon first visited England in 1873 to execute a commission. He etched some original portraits, but most of his prints reproduced paintings by contemporary artists and old masters for publications. Alma-Tadema, a Dutch-born painter of neoclassical pictures, enjoyed a considerable success on the Continent and decided to move to London where his work was enthusiastically appreciated from the 1860s to 1890s. This print was intended not only for the European market but also for the United States, and it carries a U.S. copyright line. Rajon etched Alma-Tadema’s paintings as well as his portrait.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1883
- graphic artist
- Rajon, Paul-Adolphe
- publisher
- Knoedler & Co.
- British and Foreign Artists' Association
- ID Number
- GA*14592
- catalog number
- 14592
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of Alexandre Tardieu
- Description
- Louis-Pierre Henriquel-Dupont’s etching reproduces an 1825 drawing by J. A. D. Ingres (1780–1867) of Pierre-Alexandre Tardieu (1756–1844). The print appeared in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts in 1860. Tardieu came from a dynasty of distinguished graphic artists, which dated back to the beginning of the 18th century. He was especially known for his engraved portraits. Henriquel-Dupont, like the subject of his print, also was famous for his engravings and was considered by some the most celebrated engraver of 19th-century France.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1860
- original artist
- Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique
- graphic artist
- Henriquel-Dupont, Louis-Pierre
- printer
- Drouart
- publisher
- Gazette des Beaux-Arts
- ID Number
- GA*14902
- catalog number
- 14902
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of Frank Duveneck
- Description
- In 1879 William Unger, a Vienna-based artist, etched this reproduction of William Merritt Chase’s 1876 portrait of friend and fellow painter Frank Duveneck, titled The Smoker. Duveneck is wearing a Dutch-style hat and smoking a long Dutch clay pipe as he holds a portrait print after Frans Hals. Unger etched many prints after Hals and other old masters as well as after contemporary artists like Chase. His etchings were published widely in both Europe and the United States. Some appeared loose in portfolios so that they could be framed or set up on an easel for study.
- Frank Duveneck (1848–1919), son of German immigrants, began his art studies in the United States. Dissatisfied with the experience, he went to Munich in 1870 to attend classes at the Bavarian Royal Academy, where he met William Merritt Chase in 1872. He and Chase became close friends and Chase made several portraits of Duveneck during their years in Munich.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- original artist
- Chase, William Merritt
- graphic artist
- Unger, William
- ID Number
- GA*14974
- catalog number
- 14974
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A Rabbi
- Description
- This etching by Léopold Flameng is known as either Un Rabbin or Un Vieux (An Old Man). The painting by Rembrandt hangs in the Musée Bonat, Bayonne, France. The print was etched for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, a publication started in Paris by Charles Blanc in 1859, which ceased only recently. Flameng had met Blanc in the studio of a well-known engraver, Luigi Calamatta, and became one of two graphic artists on the new publication. He etched no fewer than 100 plates for the Gazette and some forty plates for Blanc’s book on Rembrandt’s work, published in 1859. Flameng’s etchings after Rembrandt were highly regarded by collectors in this period.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 19th century
- original artist
- Rembrandt van Rijn
- graphic artist
- Flameng, Léopold
- publisher
- Gazette des Beaux-Arts
- ID Number
- GA*14958
- catalog number
- 14958
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of Two Brothers
- Description
- Les Deux Frères by Louise Girard after a drawing by Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) of the children of Monsieur de la Villestreux is executed in the crayon manner, a process invented in France. Using special tools on a plate covered with an etching ground, the artist reproduces a drawing. When printed on the appropriate paper with the right kinds of inks, the reproduction closely resembles the original chalk drawing. The French firm Rittner & Goupil published this print on August 22, 1835. The original artist, Paul Delaroche, painted history subjects and portraits. In his day, he was a popular artist in the academic tradition, and engravings after his paintings sold very well in Britain and the United States.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1835
- graphic artist
- Girard, Louise
- original artist
- Delaroche, Paul
- publisher
- Rittner & Goupil
- ID Number
- GA*15249
- catalog number
- 15249
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of a Moor
- Description
- The 1876 Centennial Exposition brought people and exhibits from around the world to Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. Stephen Ferris, a resident of the city, visited the site on August 7 and recorded in pencil the face of this man, whom he called Maure [Moor]. The man may have been one of the workers associated with an exhibit from Tunisia or Morocco. Ferris was very interested in North African subject matter at this time, due to his fondness for the works of Mariano Fortuny.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1876
- original artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- ID Number
- GA*16664
- catalog number
- GA*16664
- accession number
- 119,780
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Portrait of Jean-Léon Gérôme
- Description
- Stephen Ferris etched a dapper J. L. Gérôme (1824–1904) in 1899, near the end of Gérôme’s very successful career as painter and sculptor. Ferris had admired the French artist’s work for many years, at least since 1863 when he named his son after him. Although Ferris never actually met Gérôme, the two artists had corresponded. For this print Ferris used a photograph he had received from Gérôme. He then sent Gérôme trial proofs for comments and requested a signature to include in the final impressions, which appears here at lower left.
- Gérôme congratulated Ferris on the portrait as “work done with great care and great talent—the effect is very good and very firm. If I had any criticism to make, I would reserve it for the background, which is a little too even, and for the clothing, which has a little softness in the execution.” Gérôme also suggested that the highlight on the order which appears on his left breast and is not particularly noticeable in the photograph, be less bright. The order remains brightly lit, possibly Ferris’s tribute to Gérôme.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- date made
- 1899
- graphic artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- ID Number
- GA*14396.01
- accession number
- 94830
- catalog number
- 14396.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center