Haskell & Allen, American, 1871 - 1878 Search this
Medium:
Chromolithograph, wood, glass
Type:
Framed prints
Printed matter
Date:
ca 1873-1878
Period:
Victorian (1837-1901)
Description:
Framed lithograph titled “Innocence.” The illustration depicts a young girl placing a floral neckpiece on a lamb. It is under glass in black frame with gold gesso.
Label Text:
A chromolithograph is a type of multi-colored print produced using the lithographic printing process perfected over the first half of the nineteenth century. Surpassing engraving, chromolithography became the most successful method of creating color prints. The chromolithographic process involved drawing an image onto a chemical-treated, smooth stone, usually limestone, because unlike copper and steel engravings, limestone would not degrade from the pressure of the pressing the image onto paper. Each color required its own stone, and they would be successively lined up and printed on the page. Chromolithographs usually used between eight and forty stones for a single print. Although these prints could be mass-produced, it was still a slow process compared to today’s standards in printing. It could take up to three months to draw on the stones and another five months to print a thousand copies.
Chromolithographs were a popular decoration for the middle-class Victorian home, especially in the years following the Civil War when the technology improved allowing for finer prints, available at lower costs through mass production. In addition to popular art prints, chromolithographs populated publications of the era. Books, trade literature, catalogues, periodicals all used chromolithographs to illustrate their pages. Advertising art such as trade cards, labels, posters, and pages in magazines relied heavily on chromolithographic process using vibrant colors and dynamic illustrations to attract attention to their products. Chromolithography remained the most popular form of printing throughout the nineteenth century until offset printing replaced it in the late 1930s.
Mark(s):
Published by Haskell & Allen, 61 Hanover Street, Boston, Mass.
