The Cool Retreat

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 extremely risqué colored print is of a girl seated on a bench in a garden. She is fanning herself with her large straw hat. One leg is crossed with her ankle on her knee, causing her skirt to be pulled up exposing her pantaloons. The girl’s blouse is open down the front.
Location: Currently not on view

Physical Description: hand-colored (image production method/technique); ink (overall material); paper (overall material)
Measurements: image: 12 in x 8 in; 30.48 cm x 20.32 cm; overall: 17 in x 13 in; 43.18 cm x 33.02 cm

See more items in: Cultural and Community Life: Domestic Life; Clothing & Accessories; Domestic Furnishings; Art; Peters Prints

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