This color print is a full-length portrait of Joseph Smith (1805-1844) , standing in the woods preaching to a group of Native American Indians. Smith was the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as Mormon Church) and translator of The Book of Mormon which he holds in his left hand. Joseph Smith believed that Native American Indians were descended from the Nephite and Lamanite peoples, whose stories are told in The Book of Mormon. There is little evidence that Smith himself preached to Native American tribes, however others did at his behest until government officials pushed missionaries off reservation land. Before Smith’s martyrdom and the subsequent migration of the Mormon peoples to Utah, Smith attempted unsuccessfully to obtain legal government licenses to share The Book of Mormon with Native American tribes forcefully removed to western territories.
This print was produced by Edward Williams Clay and Henry R. Robinson. Edward Williams Clay (1799-1857) was an American painter, illustrator, and printmaker born in Philadelphia. He attended law school but left the legal field to become an engraver. In the late 1820s, he worked on a series of stereotypical racist prints entitled Life in Philadelphia depicting African American life. He also created portraits and sheet music covers, but after 1831 he specialized in political cartoons. He moved from Philadelphia to New York City in 1837 and often worked with Henry R. Robinson. Failing eyesight eventually led Clay to give up art, and he again relocated, this time to Delaware, where he worked as a court clerk. He died of tuberculosis in New York in 1857.
Henry R. Robinson was a caricaturist and lithographer active in New York City from about 1831-1851. He was listed as a carver and gilder from 1833-34, as a caricaturist from 1836-43 and as a lithographer and print publisher from 1843-51. In 1842 he was arrested for selling obscene pictures and books in his print and book shop. He was politically affiliated with the anti-Jackson Whig party which was made obvious by the wig silhouette used in 1838 as an advertising logo for his shop.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man attacking his wife. Their son and daughter are trying to intervene. Another woman is entering the room in the background.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
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 three-quarter length portrait of man and woman seated indoors. The woman is finely dressed in a long dress with lace trim, gloves, and a jewel on her forehead. The gentleman wears a dress coat and plaid trousers. He appears to be pondering how best to ask marriage. Room furnishings include: an ornate table and side chairs,an open jewelry box and vase on a table and a guitar under table. Fancy lace curtains, draperies, and a carved mirror decorate the room.
The print was produced by Sarony & Major. Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896) was born in Quebec, Canada and trained under several lithography firms including Currier & Ives and H.R. Robinson. Sarony was also known for his successful experiments in early photography, eventually developing a cabinet-sized camera. In 1846, Sarony partnered with another former apprentice of Nathaniel Currier, Henry B. Major and created Sarony & Major Lithography firm. Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards and posters. In 1930 they were bought out by Consolidated Graphics.
This medal, made of metal and copper alloy, was awarded by the American Institute, New York in 1856 to Wisconsin cabinetmaker Peter Glass’s company, Glass & Co., for “best inlaid Furniture.” As a farmer in Wisconsin, German immigrant, Peter Glass, applied his native training as a marquetry craftsman to make award-winning furniture in his spare time.
In the mid-19h century, before the more recent rise of football, basketball, and baseball, horse racing was considered America’s most popular sport. This 1845 print conveys the same carnival-like atmosphere that has remained a lasting feature of the “Run for the Roses.” Then, as now, crowds of spectators from every walk of life attended races to cheer and bet on their favorite horses. While fierce competition between jockeys, trainers, and breeders is a timeless feature of the sport, antebellum-era races were fueled by political and sectional tensions. The races were dominated by a concurrent debate between North and South over who was superior in equine breeding and training.
The rivalry extended back to 1823, when Henry, a Southern favorite, was defeated by the Northern champion Eclipse in a well-publicized race. The competition heated in the 1840s, when press and politicians encouraged a series of North/South match races that would capture passions from Maine to Florida. The first of these was held on May 10, 1842, and Fashion, a New Jersey-bred equine superstar, nicknamed “Queen of the Turf,” defeated the Richmond-bred stallion Boston, dubbed “Pride of the South.” Fashion won by thirty five lengths, setting a world record. Inflammatory headlines that followed the contest, such as “Northern Champion Defeats the great Southern Stallion” had Southerners demanding a rematch.
Sensationalized as a “sectional clash,” promoters arranged a new match on Union Course on Long Island, New York, on the same track where the Fashion/Boston race had occured. The Southern champion Peytona, an Alabama-bred chestnut mare, would compete against Fashion for a $20,000 purse. Originally named Glumdalclitch, Peytona was an inexperienced racing mare that had made headlines after setting the record for winning highest single stakes – $35,000 – in Nashville during the fall of 1843. The race took place on May 13, 1845, after Peytona had traveled over 1,500 miles to compete against the eight year-old Fashion.
In this print, the victorious six-year-old Peytona demonstrates her famously long stride in the foreground as Fashion trails behind. The center of the track is crowded with people, carriages, and wagons, but the scene does not begin to convey the true magnitude of the crowds – up to 100,000 attended – as reported in the rich news accounts and diary entries that document the event. One eyewitness laments that views of the race could only be attained at “peril of life and limb,” and numerous accounts complain of traffic jams before and after the race. The New York Herald noted that the booths at the race served all nature of refreshments to thousands of people of every class. Tents no doubt also housed numerous gaming and betting tables. The Herald commissioned eight reporters to cover the race, publishing an advance front-page story as well as four special editions.
Even though the print depicts a victorious Southern horse, it was a popular with sportsmen throughout the country. While this image endured in popular culture, the Southern victory was short lived. Two weeks later, during a rematch in Camden, New Jersey, on Wednesday, May 28th, Fashion beat Peytona, and the Southern champion came up lame. Except for the first Peytona/Fashion match and a few less notable contests, most pre-Civil War matches were usually won by Northern horses. After the Civil War, however, horses from the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky and the rolling hills of Virginia and Maryland’s Hunt Country would fully establish Dixie’s reputation for superior equine breeding.
The lithographic stone for the print was created by the artist Charles Severyn (active 1845-1860) and produced by lithographer Henry R. Robinson (active 1833-1851). Currier & Ives produced their own version of the lithograph from the same Charles Severyn drawing. The “America on Stone” collection also contains a black and white lithograph depicting the event (DL*60.2817), a proof copy produced before text and colors were added. That version appears to be closer to the Currier & Ives version than to the Robinson print.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man, a woman, and three children. The man and woman are seated at a table and he is pouring a drink for her. They are surrounded by comfortable middle-class furnishings that include a fireplace with a stove insert, pictures on the wall, and a tall case clock. A cat and a kitten play by the fire nea
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a family whose furnishings are being removed by a sheriff and two men for failure to pay debts. The father and mother are seated near the fireplace, consoling themselves with drink. The three children linger nearby.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a crowd gathered around the body of a dead woman. The weapon, a broken bottle, lies on the floor at her feet. The husband stands next to the fireplace and is being seized by a policeman. Another policeman consoles the crying daughter. The son, also crying, stands next to the fireplace.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a family, now reduced to two children due to the starvation death of the toddler. Mother, father and son huddle near a meager fire, the mother holding a wine glass, the father holding a bottle. The daughter stands with her hand on the toddler's coffin. The mother and daughter are weeping. A fork is stuck in the wall and holds up a piece of fabric that is covering the window, and a candle is stuck in the wine bottle on the mantle.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man in a cell huddling in a corner before a caged fire. He is being visited by his grown children, now a thief and a woman of shame. A guard is visible through an open doorway in the background.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an outdoor scene of a mother, father and older daughter standing outside a wine and spirits shop while the son begs for alms in the street. The mother holds an ailing toddler while the father pockets a bottle of liquor.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
In 1864, Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant to lead all Union armies, and reinvigorated under the General’s leadership and policy of total war, the Union armies launched numerous offensives against the Confederate armies in all of the war’s theaters. This print published that same year by J.H. Bufford provides a detailed allegory of the United States at war. The female personification of Liberty sits on a throne of clouds below the words “E Pluribus Unum” and an arc of 13 stars. She wears a Phrygian cap, and wields a sword, shield, and American flag. Below her, an eagle perches atop a shield decorated with stars and stripes, grasping arrows and an olive branch in its talons. To the left, a Native American warrior stands armed with a bow and tomahawk, extending his right hand. On the right, a sailor gripping an anchor gazes up at the figure of Liberty. At their feet lie cannons, rifles, swords, and other instruments of war. Below this symbolic arrangement, one can make out the U.S. Capitol, the Potomac River, and a camp of Union soldiers through the clouds.
This print was published by the lithographer John H. Bufford. The son of a sign painter and gilder, Bufford trained with Pendleton's Lithography in Boston, 1829-1831. He worked in New York with George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier (1835-1839) before returning to Boston where he developed a reputation for printing and publishing popular prints, commercial work, labels, and trade cards. The company went through several iterations and name changes until about 1865. He became the chief artist for Benjamin Thayer until buying out the firm to found J. H. Bufford & Co. (1844-1851). He continued to work in the lithography and publishing business for the remainder of his life. In 1865, his sons Frank and Henry John became partners in Bufford & Sons or J.H. Bufford’s Sons Litho. Co. After his death they continued the family business as Bufford Brothers and as Bufford Sons Engraving & Lithographing Company until 1911.
The artist of this work, Joseph E. Baker (1837-1914), began as an apprentice at J. H. Bufford & Co. in 1857. He eventually became James Bufford’s principal draftsman and illustrator of sheet music. He worked in NYC in 1860-1867 and specialized in portrait prints. During the Civil War he produced political cartoons and lithographs for Bufford. He later worked for Armstrong & Company, remaining active until 1888.
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man, a woman, and three children. The father sits despondently next to the fire while the daughter hands a new bottle to the mother and the mother hands the daughter what appears to be a bundle of clothes. The cat walks across the table that is now pushed against the wall. Two younger children huddle together on a small table or footstool.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
This black and white lithograph is a 3/4 length portrait of Jenny Lind wearing a formal gown with a lace shawl and holding a handkerchief in her lap. Her signature serves as the title. This print is modeled after a well-known daguerreotype by M. A. and S. Root and is on thin, white paper which has been pasted to heavier cream-colored paper.
Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was an opera singer often described as “The Swedish Nightingale” for the range, purity, and melodiousness of her soprano voice. Born Johanna Maria Lind in Stockholm, Lind trained at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, began performing in her teens, and was soon creating a sensation on tours throughout Europe. When she made her London debut in 1847, frenzied theatergoers set off a stampede as they entered the theater. Queen Victoria was among those who attended that opening night performance. The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen is said to have fallen in love with Lind and to have written fairy tales with her in mind, including “The Nightingale.” She also won the admiration of composers like Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn, who became a close friend. In addition to Lind’s vocal gifts, she was greatly admired as a model of piety, simplicity, and generosity. In 1849, although only 29 years old, she announced her retirement from opera and turned to performing Romantic and Swedish folk songs. She resumed her operatic career in 1850, when she launched an American tour under the management of the showman P. T. Barnum. He promoted her arrival with such fanfare that she was greeted by a crowd numbering in the thousands when she sailed into New York’s harbor. She traveled across the United States and to Cuba and Canada in the year that followed, often donating her profits to the endowment of free schools in Sweden and other charitable causes. Lind and Barnum ended their partnership in 1851, but she continued to tour on her own for another year.
In 1852, Jenny Lind married her accompanist, Otto Goldschmidt, and continued to appear in occasional European concerts as Jenny Lind Goldschmidt. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 67. Although critics have debated whether her talent measured up to her reputation, her legendary popularity lives on in memorials and monuments around the world. She has inspired books, films, and a series of Swedish banknotes, while schools, streets, parks, hospitals, pies, clothing, and cigars all carry her name. Even a clipper ship, the USS Nightingale, and the Gold Rush town of Jenny Lind, California have been named in her honor.
This lithograph was produced by Nagel & Weingaertner and C. G. Crehen. Louis Nagel was born in Germany ca. 1817 and began working in New York as early as 1844. There he was involved in two partnerships, Nagel & Mayer (1846) and Nagel & Weingaertner (1849-1856). In 1857, he moved to San Francisco. Charles G. Crehen (1829-ca 1891) was a portrait painter, lithographer, and printer in New York.
Marcus Aurelius Root (1808-1888) was a photographer and daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He studied painting and penmanship before turning to daguerreotyping and became one of the early practitioners of the new art. He worked in Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana; St. Louis, Missouri; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then in 1849 established a gallery in New York with his brother Samuel. The Root brothers were the first to produce daguerreotypes of Jenny Lind. After being disabled in a train accident, Marcus Root devoted himself to writing about photographic history and aesthetics. His book The Camera and The Pencil: Or the Heliographic Art, published in 1864, argued that photographers should be as highly esteemed as artists, and that much more was involved in photography than simply operating a camera. In recognition of his pioneering achievements, Root's daguerreotypes of famous people were included in an exhibition at the 1876 American centennial celebration in Philadelphia.
Samuel Root (ca. 1819-1889) was a daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He learned the art of daguerreotyping from his brother Marcus and the two opened a gallery in New York in 1849. Samuel Root later moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he opened another daguerreotype business. He also published photographic books on Dubuque residences and businesses.
This hand colored print depicts an interior scene of a cottage with two men, a woman and four children. The two men are seated, one in an armchair and the other in a basketry chair. The man dressed in black sits in an armchair being served a drink by children. He appears to be a visitor. The other man, dressed in white, holds his head and looks ill. The woman holds a baby while another child leans on the knee of the sick man. A young boy plays at a table next to the man in white.
This print was produced by Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888). Currier was the founder of the company that eventually became the Currier & Ives lithography firm. At the age of fifteen Currier apprenticed with the Pendleton lithography firm in New York City. Five years later, he moved to Philadelphia to work with the lithographer M.E.D. Brown (1810-1896). After a year Currier moved back to New York, where he intended on going into business with one of the Pendleton brothers. Instead he formed a partnership in 1834 with a man named Stodart. Within a year he opened his own lithography company on Wall Street and then moved to Nassau and Spruce. In 1852 a bookkeeper named James Merritt Ives joined the firm. He married Charles Currier’s sister-in-law and brought to the firm a critical eye and business acumen. In five years he had become a partner. Currier & Ives would become arguably the most successful and prodigious lithography firm of the 19th century. Although especially well known for prints celebrating American landscapes and pastimes like sailing and ice skating, Currier & Ives also produced lithographs that featured current events, social issues and political controversies.
This black and white print is an oval full-length portrait of the showman/clown Dan Rice, surrounded by six smaller, full-length oval depictions of him in various roles. The title of the print appears at the top and the word “Clown” at the bottom.
Dan Rice (1823-1900) was one of America's most famous circus clowns, known for performances that included singing, dancing, shows of strength, trick riding, and trained animal acts. He was also a celebrated humorist, whose comedy acts ranged over the years from Shakespearean parodies to biting political satire. Born Daniel McLaren in New York City, Rice worked as a jockey as a boy and launched his performing career at the age of seventeen with a song and dance routine and a trained pig he called Lord Byron. He joined his first circus as a strongman and in 1844 began performing as a clown. By the late 1840s he had established his own one-ring circus, called Dan Rice’s Great Show. Sporting a trademark Uncle Sam beard, he described himself as the “Great American Humorist.” He later entered politics, running for the Pennsylvania State Senate and in 1868 for president of the United States, although he eventually dropped out. Alcoholism contributed to the eventual decline of his circus career, and he stopped touring in 1885.
This lithograph was produced by G. & W. Endicott. George Endicott (1802-1848) was born in Canton, Massachusetts. He worked as an ornamental painter in Boston before turning to lithography around 1828. In 1830, he went into business with Moses Swett (1804-1838), a native of Poland who had worked previously for the Pendleton lithography firm as an artist and draftsman. Endicott & Swett first opened in Baltimore but moved to New York in 1831. The partnership dissolved in 1834, and Swett continued to work on his own in New York from 1834-1837. Endicott stayed on as the head of the company which his brother William (1816-1851) later joined. After George Endicott’s death in 1848, William ran the firm as William Endicott & Co.
This commemorative print celebrates the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. The central panel depicts the parade in Baltimore on May 19, 1870, the largest celebration honoring the amendment's passage. The parade lasted more than five hours, was over a mile in length, and had more than 20,000 spectators. Note the Baltimore Washington Monument in the background, the troop of Zouave drummers, and the African American men wearing Masonic sashes. The central image is surrounded by sixteen small vignettes containing portraits of individuals and events that were influential in securing voting rights for all American males regardless of race. These include four white men: Abraham Lincoln, in upper left President Ulysses S. Grant, a bust of abolitionist John Brown, abolitionist, orator, and Grant’s Vice President Schuyler S. Colfax. The African American leaders in the center are D.C. US Marshall Frederick Douglas, Mississippi Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels depicted sitting in Congress, and Martin Robison Delany, author and 1st African American major in US Army. The surrounding scenes optimistically depict the of expected benefits of the amendment such as a African American wedding ceremony presuming freedom to marry without impediment, a African American man voting, scenes depicting African Americans at worship and in school, and an image of former slaves tilling their own fields.
The brightly colored chromolithograph was created by graphic artist James Carter Beard and published/ issued by the Irish immigrant lithographer Thomas Kelly. It was published in New York. Two sizes of this print were produced; this is the larger version. Thomas Kelly learned the craft of lithography in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
For more detailed information about the vignettes in this print see: http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/resources/pdfs/unit1/2-15th-amendment-print.pdf
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 a portrait of man, woman and four young children, one an infant in mother's lap in a richly furnished interior setting. The family is clothed in fancy antebellum dress. The room contains an elaborate sofa, foot stools, two heavily framed bust portraits of the husband and wife, heavy blue drapes, an ornate rug, patterned wallpaper and an intricately carved chair rail. The children and father all face the mother as if seeking her guidance. This is one of several prints with the same title, depicting a contented family. These happy family scenes were meant to contrast with the restless, discontented bachelor prints.
The print was produced by Sarony & Major. Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896) was born in Quebec, Canada, and trained under several lithography firms including Currier & Ives and H.R. Robinson. Sarony was also known for his successful experiments in early photography, eventually developing a cabinet-sized camera. In 1846, Sarony partnered with another former apprentice of Nathaniel Currier, Henry B. Major. Together they created Sarony & Major Lithography firm. Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards, and posters. In 1930 they were bought out by Consolidated Graphics.
This print depicts American forces attacking the fortress palace of Chapultepec on Sept. 13th, 1847. General Winfield Scott, on a white horse (lower left), led the southern division of the U.S. Army that successfully captured Mexico City during the Mexican American War. The outcome of American victory was the loss of Mexico's northern territories, from California to New Mexico, by the terms set in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It should be noted that the two countries ratified different versions of the same peace treaty, with the United States ultimately eliminating provisions for honoring the land titles of its newly absorbed Mexican citizens. Despite notable opposition to the war from Americans like Abraham Lincoln, John Quincy Adams, and Henry David Thoreau, the Mexican-American War proved hugely popular. The United States' victory boosted American patriotism and the country's belief in Manifest Destiny.
This large chromolithograph was first distributed in 1848 by Nathaniel Currier of Currier and Ives, who served as the "sole agent." The lithographers, Sarony & Major of New York (1846-1857) copied it from a painting by "Walker." While the current location of that painting is unknown, when the print was created, the painting was owned by Captain B. S. Roberts of the Mounted Rifles, as indicated by an inscription below the image.
The original artist has previously been incorrectly attributed to William Aiken Walker as well as Henry A. Walke, as both worked at various times with Currier. The artist of the original painting however is James Walker (1819-1889), who created the "Battle of Chapultepec" 1857-1862 for the U.S. Capitol. This image differs from the painting commissioned for the U. S. Capitol by depicting the troops in regimented battle lines with General Scott in a more prominent position in the foreground. Variant copies of the image from different viewpoints were painted by Walker. James Walker was living in Mexico City at the outbreak of the Mexican War and joined the American forces as an interpreter. Attached to General Worth's staff, he was present at the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, and at Chapultepec was tasked as the artist. Captain Benjamin Stone Roberts, an engineer, was assigned by General Winfield Scott to assist Walker with recreating the details of the battle of Chapultepec. Roberts is depicted in the painting as leading the storming. When the painting was complete, Roberts purchased a copy of the painting for $250.00 (documented in letters and a diary). Captain George T. M. Davis, aide-de-camp to Generals Quitman and Shields also purchased a copy of the painting by Walker, in Mexico City, which was publicized in newspapers and made into a print. By 1848, James Walker had returned to a New York City studio in the same neighborhood as the print's distributor Nathaniel Currier and lithographers Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major.
This popular lithograph was one of several published to visually document the war while engaging the imagination of the public. Created prior to photography, these prints were meant to inform the public, while generally eliminating the portrayal of more gory details. Historians have been able to use at least some prints of the Mexican War for study and corroborate with the traditional literary forms of documentation. As an eyewitness, both Walke and Walker could claim accuracy of detail within the narrative. The battle is presented in the grand, historic, heroic style with the brutality of war not portrayed. The print depiction is quite large for a chromo of the period. In creating the chromolithographic interpretation of the painting, Sarony & Major used at least four large stones to produce the print "in colours," making the most of their use of color. They also defined each figure with precision by outlining each in black. This print was considered by expert/collector Harry T. Peters as one of the finest ever produced by Sarony & Major.
Description (Spanish)
Este grabado ilustra a las fuerzas americanas atacando la fortaleza del palacio de Chapultepec el 13 de septiembre de 1847. El General Winfield Scott, representado en la esquina inferior izquierda montando un caballo blanco, condujo la división sureña del ejército estadounidense que tomó con éxito la ciudad de México durante la guerra mexicoamericana. El resultado de la victoria americana se tradujo en la pérdida para México de los territorios al norte del país, desde California hasta Nuevo México. Estos términos quedaron establecidos en el tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo. Debe observarse que las dos naciones ratificaron diferentes versiones del mismo tratado de paz, con los Estados Unidos eliminando en última instancia cláusulas que reconocían títulos territoriales a los ciudadanos mexicanos recientemente asimilados. A pesar de la notable oposición de los americanos a la guerra, como Abraham Lincoln, John Quincy Adams y Henry David Thoreau, la Guerra Mexicoamericana evidenció ser considerablemente popular. La victoria de los Estados Unidos reforzó el patriotismo americano y la fe del país en el Destino Manifiesto.