Newly acquired antique prints and maps or items of particular interest
A very rare memorial print to George Washington. A weeping woman leans against an ornamental base, pointing to a relief portrait of Washington carved into the base. The landscape includes a weeping willow and flowers. The only reference we could find to this print is in the 1910 Catalogue of the very important collection of rare Americana and fine engravings formed by the late Edwin Babcock Holden. That listing seems to indicate that there may have been a legend at the top which read "To the Memory of G. Washington Born 11th Feby 1732 Died Dec 19 1799," but that is missing from this example. The Holden catalogue notes that his print is not listed in Hart nor Baker, and indicates that the example in the Holden sale was "the only known impression." This print was issued within half a year of Washington's death and its symbolism linking Washington and Virtue demonstrates how highly even the British held the first President (said in the print to be the "President of the American Congress"). $2,600
Peter de Jode. "Emblema. Tabula II". Antwerp, ca. 1600. Engraving by P. de Jode. 18 3/4 x 27. Original hand color. Paper somewhat time toned and some chipping in margins. Otherwise, very good condition.
A very rare and spectacular double page composite image comprised of emblems in a courtyard with a columned platform. Symbolic figures from the classical tradition were familiar and widely understood by the educated European in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, so this amazing image filled with figures, each with a specific meaning, would have been easily interpreted by its intended audience. Among the figures included a Hercules, Perseus and Medussa, Mercury. Two columns flank the center platform, one with military images and the other concerning different disciplines of knowledge, a subject at least a number of the symbolic figures represent. On its surface this print is an amazing artistic artifact from four centuries ago, but it also invites and would reward deeper contemplation and research. $4,500
Tompkins H. Matteson. “The Distribution of the American Art-Union Prizes at the Tabernacle – Broadway, New York 24th December 1847.” Drawn on stone by Francis Davignon. Lithograph. New York: Sarony & Major, 1848. 15 3/4 x 20 3/4. Very good condition.
The AAU is well known today for the thirty-six engravings it published based on the paintings of some of the most luminous names in American art, including George Caleb Bingham, Thomas Cole, F.O.C. Darley, R.C. Woodville, Asher B. Durand and William Sidney Mount. The association is especially important for the seminal role it played in stimulating American art and for spreading an awareness of it throughout the country. With its gallery and thousands of subscribers, the AAU probably had more to do than any other force with the success of many of America’s nineteenth century artists and the popularization of their work. The legacy of the American Art Union is immense, and its prints are an important part of that.
In this print, the AAU itself is held up for examination. Though some controversy surrounded the association’s lottery-style distribution, this print illustrates the open manner in which the drawings were conducted. AAU members fill the auditorium of the Tabernacle, observing a process presided over by various military officers and government officials. After Tompkins H. Matteson produced the drawing of the proceedings, it was lithographed and distributed to AAU Honorary Secretaries as an aid to garnering new subscriptions. That year, new memberships spiked, due at least in part to the appeal of this fine print. $7,500
Go to page with other American Art-Union prints.
Charles Fenderich after Robt. Mills, Archt. "Design of the National Washington Monument, to be Erected in the City of Wasihngton [sic]." Washington: Charles Fenderich, 1846. Lithographed by A. Hoen & Co. 18 7/8 x 14 3/4 (image). Some ink splatters (likely from original printing) in sky. Otherwise, very good condition. Parker & Kaplan, Charles Fenderich: 244; Reps, Monumental Washington, pp. 102-3.
The Washington National Monument Society was founded in 1833, and in 1836 it selected a design by Robert Mills of South Carolina. Some money was raised over the years until 1848 when Congress authorized a site and construction began. This lithograph served as a certificate to be awarded to a person who contributed to the campaign for the monument. The design was drawn by Charles Fenderich, of Washington, after the design by architect Robert Mills. Fenderich, a Swiss immigrant, was best known for his lithographed portraits of politicians, but his printmaking did not seem terribly successful, for in 1849, he joined a gold-prospecting group heading to California, where we worked as an artist until his death.
Fenderich's image of the monument appeared in a number of variations by Fenderich and other printmakers, of which this is the most unusual. In this particular print "Washington" is misspelled in the title, where it appears as "City of Wasihngton." It is not clear if this mistake was later corrected. Parker & Kaplan cite the title as reading "City of Washington," but this may have been just a natural overlooking of the misspelling. Beyond this, Fenderich's image is quite interesting, showing the early design of the monument, complete with the pantheon and terrace, and including a bas-relief of John Trumbull's "Surrender of Cornwallis" on the side of the obelisk. In the background can be seen the Tiber Creek Bridge, and Whitehouse, Treasury, Capitol, and Smithsonian buildings. In the foreground are a number of citizens visiting this impressive planned monument. This fine lithograph, and its siblings, must have been fairly successful, for the Monument Society had raised $87,000 by the time construction began on July 4, 1848. It is interesting that the Associated Press reported that another example of this print with the misspelling was being claimed to be worth more than 2 million dollars. While this seems an overreach in value, it is a rare and most fascinating view of our nation's capital. $2,400
From 1834 to 1907 the firm of Currier and Ives provided for the American people a pictorial history of their country's growth from an agricultural society to an industrialized one. For nearly three quarters of a century the firm provided "Colored Engravings for the People" and in the process, because of the democratic philosophy of the business, became the visual raconteurs of nineteenth century America. Some of the finest artists of the day, Louis Maurer, Thomas Worth, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, Frances Flora Bond Palmer, George H. Durrie, Napoleon Sarony, Charles Parsons, and J. E. Butterworth were engaged by the firm to produce a variety of images. The prints were printed in black and white and then the finest colors were applied by hand. These prints, which were issued in small, medium and large folio size, were hung in homes, businesses and public venues all around the country and even overseas. One of the most popular subjects were sporting prints and the most renowned of the Currier & Ives sporting artists was A.F. Tait. Tait's hunting and fishing prints capture this popular nineteenth-century pastime like no other body of work. Tait was himself a sportsman (and he often included himself in his pictures), so the scenes, equipment, animals, and paraphernalia are all accurate and beautifully rendered. This set of four prints are classics of Tait's sporting prints.
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