overall: 14 1/8 in x 10 1/16 in; 35.8775 cm x 25.55875 cm
Object Name:
lithograph
Object Type:
Lithograph
Place made:
United States: New York, New York City
Date made:
ca 1850
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.
Colored print; full length portrait of man and woman happily walking arm in arm near a river's edge. Both appear to be in fine riding costume and carry riding crops. The man wears a fitted coat, brocade vest, ascot, plaid trousers and a high silk hat. The woman wears a long skirt with train, fitted bodice, high stiff collar with bow tie, and a high silk hat. Several small sailboats and a canoe are on the river in a bucolic background scene while a group of homes and a church or large municipal building are on a hill overlooking the river..
The print was produced by Sarony & Major. Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896) was born in Quebec 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.
