Object Details
- Metropolitan Printing Company
- Rothengatter
- Description
- This colored print depicts a boy and girl sleeping in a dense, dark forest. They are dressed in Renaissance-era clothing and there is a dream-like quality to the scene. There are squirrels and birds in the trees and fairies dance in a grove in the background. The title is overprinted at the top.
- The poster is a reference to the late 18th Century opera in two acts entitled The Children in the Wood. It was composed by Samuel Arnold (1740-1802) with a libretto by Thomas Morton (1764-1838). It was first performed in London at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1793. The story is loosely based on Hansel and Gretel and sometimes called “Babes in the Woods” a ballad which was first printed by Thomas Millington in 1595.
- This lithograph was printed by the Metropolitan Printing Company and by E. Rothengatter. Emil Rothengatter (1848-1939) was a German-born artist and designer of circus posters who worked in cities including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1896, he won a contest to design the flag of Cincinnati for a work he called “Zero of Burnet Woods.” However, controversy over whether Cincinnati should have a flag delayed the design’s formal adoption until 1940. Emil Rothengatter also wrote a book entitled Art of Poster Making in the United States, published in 1911. He died in New York.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- n.d.
- ID Number
- DL.60.3036
- catalog number
- 60.3036
- accession number
- 228146
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 19 in x 16 in; 48.26 cm x 40.64 cm
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Advertising
- Art
- Peters Prints
- Domestic Furnishings
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Costume
- Wild Animals
- Children
- Theater
- Record ID
- nmah_325304
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-1049-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
