The Proposal
The Proposal
- 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 hand colored print is of a seated woman with a man standing in front of her. The woman is wearing simple farm clothing, a yellow bonnet and apron over a red long sleeved dress. The man is wearing tan pants with a white shirt and blue vest and he is holding a straw hat. Beside the woman is a watering trough overflowing with water. A jug is between the trough and the woman; behind the man are two baskets. Multiple buildings can be seen in the background.
- This print was produced by the lithographic firm of D.W. Kellogg & Co. Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded the company in 1830 Hartford, Connecticut. Before the opening of its first retail store in 1834, D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg established the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- date made
- ca 1835
- maker
- D.W. Kellogg and Company
- place made
- United States: Connecticut, Hartford
- Physical Description
- hand-colored (image production method/technique)
- ink (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 12 in x 9 1/2 in; 30.48 cm x 24.13 cm
- overall: 16 in x 12 in; 40.64 cm x 30.48 cm
- ID Number
- DL.60.2280
- catalog number
- 60.2280
- accession number
- 228146
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- subject
- Courtship, love
- Architecture, Domestic Buildings
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Clothing & Accessories
- Art
- Peters Prints
- Domestic Furnishings
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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