The Sea Nymphs' Cave

Description:

Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.

These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.

This colored print is of a nude woman in knee deep water within a cave. The mouth of the cave and sky is visible behind her. Loose flowing fabric is attached to one arm. Fringed cloth held in both hands billows behind her shoulders. Gold bracelets are on either arm. The graphic artist and publisher are unknown.

Date Made: n.d.

Maker: unknown

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: World

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life, Art, Peters Prints, Domestic Furnishings

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: DL.60.2268Catalog Number: 60.2268Accession Number: 228146

Object Name: lithographObject Type: Lithograph

Physical Description: hand-colored (image production method/technique)ink (overall material)paper (overall material)Measurements: image: 12 1/2 in x 8 1/2 in; 31.75 cm x 21.59 cmoverall: 18 in x 13 in; 45.72 cm x 33.02 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-3905-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_324559

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