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 is a black and white print of a young woman seated on a bench with a young boy beside her and a toddler at her feet. She has a basket of flowers on her lap and another beside her. The title of the print indicates the interest in botany and the natural world.
The print was produced by the lithographic firm of D. W. Kellogg & Co. of Hartford, Connecticut. Daniel Wright Kellogg, established this family business that would flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
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