The Fisherman's Dog
The Fisherman's Dog
- 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 a sentimental, outdoor scene depicting a young girl standing at water's edge. Next to her is a dog leaning over the water, sniffing a floating black hat. She is wearing a plain clothing. A thatched-roof clapboard house and rocky coastline is in the background. The reference to the fisherman in the title, and the black hat floating in the water may allude to a fisherman lost at sea-perhaps the girl's father.
- This print was produced by James S Baillie, was active in New York from 1838 to 1855. James Baillie started as a framer in 1838, and then became an artist and lithographer in 1843 or 1844. He discovered how to color lithographs while working as an independent contractor for Currier & Ives in the mid 1840’s. A prolific lithographer and colorist for Currier & Ives; his prints were extremely popular with a wide distribution. J. Baillie spent his later years concentrating on painting instead of lithography.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- date made
- ca 1850
- maker
- Baillie, James S.
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- Physical Description
- hand-colored (image production method/technique)
- ink (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 8 1/4 in x 12 1/4 in; 20.955 cm x 31.115 cm
- overall: 12 in x 16 in; 30.48 cm x 40.64 cm
- ID Number
- DL.60.2235
- catalog number
- 60.2235
- accession number
- 228146
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- subject
- Children
- Pets
- Architecture, Domestic Buildings
- Flowers
- Fishing
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Clothing & Accessories
- Art
- Peters Prints
- Domestic Furnishings
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. We apologize for the interruption. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. If you require a personal response, please use our Contact page.
