Object Details
- distributors
- Sowle & Shaw
- Sarony & Major
- 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 colored print is a full length 3/4 pose of young man standing in parlor. He is in formal dress:a long fitted coat, embroidered vest and shirt, bow tie, high silk hat in hand. The background includes an ornate sofa,a fireplace with painted seascape on the a firescreen, a framed picture of six masted sailing ship on the wall, a fringed throw rug and a patterned carpet. A vase with portrait image, bust length of a young woman contains a floral arrangement and sits on the mantle.
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- ca 1848
- ID Number
- DL.60.2275
- catalog number
- 60.2275
- accession number
- 228146
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- Physical Description
- hand-colored (image production method/technique)
- ink (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 11 1/2 in x 8 1/2 in; 29.21 cm x 21.59 cm
- overall: 14 in x 10 in; 35.56 cm x 25.4 cm
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- Related Publication
- Peters, Harry T.. America on Stone
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Clothing & Accessories
- Art
- Peters Prints
- Domestic Furnishings
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Furnishings
- Record ID
- nmah_324613
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-3451-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
