Watercolor Figurative Prints

Venere ed Ercole is an original Contemporary artwork realized in 1979 by the italian artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original Etching on paper. Watercolor and bistre. Hand-signed, ...

"Pompei" is an original hand-water-colored etching on ivory paper by Castelli. Signed on the lower right. in good conditons except for diffused stains and the trace of humidity th...

Lecon d' Amour is an original artwork realized by Henry Marteau in 1940. China Ink and watercolor. Very good condition.

Figure is an original watercolor drawing realized by Lippy Lipshitz in 1960s. The little picture is in very good conditions, with an inscription on the back of the ivory cardboard. LIPPY LIPSHITZ (Russia, 1903 – Israel, 1980) Along with, M. Kottler and Anton van Wouw...

Maurice UTRILLO Montmartre : Sacre Coeur Church and Moulin de la Galette under the Snow Lithograph enhanced with gouache and watercolor pochoir Printed signature in the plate On Ar...

Village House is an original painting in watercolor realized in 1890 ca. by an anonymous French artist of the end of 19th century. The state of preservation is good. Included a Pass...

"Scene on the Wabash, and Potawattamie Indians" is an original hand-colored engraving, executed by Wellstood & Kirk after the original painting by George Winter. The image captures the kind of scene of the American landscape for which Winter is best known: among the lush trees and flowing rivers, Pottawatomi men, women and children relax from their travels, their horses tied...

Hand-Colored, with watercolor painting, Etching hand signed in pencil l.r. in Hebrew, l.l. in English. Rare A/P artist proof. EUGENE ABESHAUS Leningrad, Russia, b. 1939, d. 2008 Eu...

This radiant purple pink poster was designed by Jim Dine for a production of Gilbert and Sullivan at New York City Center in 1968. The stripe down...

Boris deutsch was born in krasnagorka lithuania june 4 1892 died in los angeles 1978.Entered the polytechnic school in riga 1905.School of applied arts berlin 1912. Settled in l.A. 1...

Fishing in the Lake is an original modern artwork realized in the 1950s by the Italian artist Emilio Grau (Barcelona, 1922 - Paris, 1975). Original Colored Lithograph refined with watercolors. Passepartout is included (dimensions: cm 38 x 30). Mint conditions. Fishing in the Lake is an excellent and refined work depicting a genre scene in the nature. A couple of figures is on a lake immersend in the greening vegetation. The work has been realized by the Catalan artist Emilio Grau (Barcelona, 1922 - Paris, 1975). He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. With his wife Ángeles Santos Torroella...

Il Festino is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable quality of strokes and brillian...

Artist: Michael Burghers (Dutch, c.1647/1648-1727) Title: "The New Testament" Portfolio: Holy Bible *Signed by Burghers in the plate (printed signature) lower left Year: 1680 Medium: Original Etching and Engraving with recent Hand-Color on watermarked laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: John Baskett, London?, UK Publisher: Moses Pitt, Peter Parker, and Thomas Guy, London?, UK Sheet size (irregular margins): 17.25" x 10.5" Image size: 14.75" x 9.5" Condition: Uneven trimming and light edgewear in margins. One small tear entering image lower right which has been skillfully repaired with added backing paper with archival tape from verso. It is otherwise a strong impression in very good condition with strong colors Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Cotswolds, UK. Comes from the 1685 "Holy Bible" portfolio. John Baskett was deemed printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for Great Britain and to the University of Oxford. Large unidentified watermark within center of sheet. There is an example of this work in the permanent collection of the British Museum in London, UK. In the foreground, John the Evangelist, holding a pen and writing...

Sleeping man. 2000. Paper, etching, watercolor, 19x13 cm

The Feast (original title: "Il Festino") is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable q...

Nude is an original watercolor drawing on ivory-colored paper realized by Anonymous Artist of the early 20th Century. The state of preservation of the artwork is good. The artwork...

Briganti Assetati (Thirsty Brigands) is a beautiful artwork realized by Bartolomeo Pinelli in 1820. Etching and Watercolor technique. In Good condition, worn paper on the marginal l...

Bassorilievo del Sarcofago Romano nel Duomo di PIsa, 1880s is an original hand-watercolored etching on ivory-colorated paper by Anonymous Italian Artist of XIX Century. In excellent...

I Moccoletti is a pleasant etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The artwork is unsigned, but it is part of the 20 plates engraved in...

Dancing in the street (original Title: "Ballo nella Strada") is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which pre...

Piazza del Popolo is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable quality of strokes and b...

Neapolitan Fishermen is an original modern artwork realized by Anonymous Artist of thr XIX Century. Original gouache. Hand-signed on the lower center corner: "LeDoux". The work is...

Roman Columns is a lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century later watercolored, and representing the beautiful historiated columns wi...

Fresco from Pompeii is a beautiful hand-watercolored etching realized by Francois Mazois, in 1922. Titled on the lower center. Sculptor's name on the lower right margin. Good condi...

The present hand-colored lithograph presents the viewer with a hunting scene in a picturesque landscape. In the foreground, a man approaches two partridges as his two pointers prepare to flush them out. Beyond, a white fence draws our eyes to the homestead in the distance. Images like this one show how people in the United States were trying to identify themselves as a new nation in the North American landscape - as separate from their European counterparts but with similar similar and specific wildlife and magesties of nature. It also identifies hunting in this landscape as an American pastime. 9.25 x 12.5 inches, artwork 18.38 x 22 inches, frame Entitled bottom center "Partridge Shooting...

Les Tuirleries is an original modern artwork realized by Andre Roland Brudieux. Original drawing in watercolor on paper. Not signed. This artwork represent a beautiful landscape wi...

St. Gervais is an original drawing in mixed media: watercolor and China ink on paper, realized by the French Artist C. Lartigue in the early 20th Century Hand-signed on the lower ri...

Artist: Manuel Robbe (French, 1872-1936) Title: "Le Bouquet de Violettes (The Bouquet of Violets)" *Signed by Robbe in pencil lower right Year: 1903 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Etc...

The present print is one of several examples produced for Nathaniel Currier by his longtime collaborator Frances F. "Fanny" Palmer. Harry T. Peters wrote of her: "There is no more interesting and appealing character among the group of artists who worked for Currier & Ives than Fanny Palmer. In an age when women, well-bred women in particular, did not generally work for a living Fanny Palmer for years did exacting, full-time work in order to support a large and dependent family ... Her work ... had great charm, homeliness, and a conscientious attention to detail." One of a series of four prints showing American country life in different seasons, the image presents the viewer with a picturesque view of a successful American farm. In the foreground, a gentleman rides a horse with a young boy before a respectable Italianate country house. Two women and a young girl pick flowers in the garden and several farm workers attend to their duties. Beyond are other homes and a city on the coast. 16.63 x 23.75 inches, artwork 28.13 x 33.38 inches, frame Entitled bottom center "American Country Life - May Morning" Signed in the stone, lower left "F.F. Palmer, Del." Signed in the stone, lower right "Lith. by N. Currier" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Inscribed bottom center "New York, Published by N. Currier 152 Nassau Street" Framed to conservation standards using silk-lined 100 percent rag matting and Museum Glass with a gold gilded liner, all housed in a stained wood moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

"Portrait of Giuseppe Garibaldi in front of the Sea" is an original mixed media (pencil, white lead) and gouache drawing on ivory-colorated cardboard by Anonymous Artist of XIX Century, perhaps Alessandro Sani...

Fountain with Castle is an excellent Modern artwork realized by the German artist Augusto Wolf (Weinheim, 1842 - Venice, 1915) in the 1890s. Original Watercolored Etching. Hand-s...

Horse Race (original title: "La Corsa dei Cavalli") is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a r...

Piazza del Popolo is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable quality of strokes and b...

Piazza del Popolo is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable quality of strokes and b...

"Porcelain Lamps" is an original watercolor drawing on ivory-colorated paper by realized in 1880ca. Anonymous Artist of XIX Century. In very good conditions, with some diffused foxi...

Piazza del Popolo is a beautiful etching and hand-colored gouache, finely engraved on copper and printed on laid paper. The work, which presents a remarkable quality of strokes and b...

Bird-of-paradise is an original drawin in mixed-media realized by Gian Paolo Berto, in 1974. Good conditions. Hand-signed on the lower right. Includes frame: 53.5 x 48 The artwor...

Original 1960s fashion design from a Northern Italian fashion house. Sketched and coloured by hand with a pencil sketch of the reverse. The name and description of the outfit is type...

Carriages is an original drawing in pencil and watercolor, realized by an anonymous artist of the XIX century. Monogrammed "FB". Sheet Dimension: 21.5 x 26 cm Passepartout includ...

Tomb of Caecilia Metella is an original etching, hand-colored on paper realized by an Anonymous artist of the XIX century, the state of artwork is good with some foxing on the upper ...

The Order is an original drawing artwork in black marker and watercolor on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the 1960s. Hand-signed by the artist on the lower right. Good condition...

Original gouache with stencil by Warner Kreuter. Wisconsin, 1929. Initialed lower/mid right. Dated lower left. Mounted on green card stock. Unframed.

Albert Einstein portrait, "Albert", a color collotype print, watercolor by Lilya Vorobey (American, 21st C). Titled "Albert with his wry smile and electrifying white hair" lower righ...

"Greetings for Christmas" 1950's is an original drawing in hand watercolored etching, realized by Eugene Huot, XIX Century. The state of preservation of the artwork is very good. S...

The present unique collagraph is an excellent example of Joseph Rozman's pictographic style. The composition is organized like a tiled floor, each square containing an abstracted ima...

Figures is an original drawing on ivory paper realized by Flor David in the 1950s This is an original pen and watercolored drawing. The artwork represents the study of figures, skil...

The present hand-colored lithograph is one of several decorative images of flower-filled vases published by Nathaniel Currier. This example contains roses, tulips, forget-me-nots, and others all within a vase with gold eagle head handles and an image of a beautiful young woman the belly. 16 x 11 inches, artwork 22.5 x 18.25 inches, frame Entitled bottom center Signed in the stone, lower left "Lith. and Pub. by N. Currier" Inscribed lower right "152 Nassau St. Cor. of Spruce N.Y." Copyrighted bottom center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1848 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." with the number 249 Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting, housed in a lemon gold moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

The present hand-colored lithograph was produced as part of the funeral and mourning culture in the United States during the 19th century. Before the printmaking boom of the 1830s, however, such inexpensive memorial images were not widely available. These prints became popular as ways of remembering loved ones, an alternative to portraiture of the deceased or to meticulous hand-embroidered memorials often made by female academy students. In the image, the urn-topped monument contains a space where a family could inscribe the name and death dates of a deceased loved one, though this example was never used. In the variations of this image type produced by the Kellogg...

Original 1960s fashion design from a Northern Italian fashion house. Sketched and coloured by hand with a pencil sketch of the reverse. The name and description of the outfit is type...

Nude Woman is an original mixed media on cardboard artwork by Leo Guida in the XX century. The state of preservation is good except for some foxings. Sheet dimension: 35 x 50 ONn...

Titled: Rodeo rose Ann Chernow (Connecticut b. 1936) etching. hand signed 'Ann Chernow' in pencil lower right. Numbered '5/15' in pencil lower left. Titled in pencil lower center. Sheet measures 18-in. x 24-in. Image is smaller. please see photos. Ann Chernow, née Levy, born 1936 in New York City, is known for her portrait-style illustrations that evoke the images of female cinematic figures of the 1930s and 1940s. Born and raised in New York City, Chernow studied music and art from a young age and acquired an affinity for the arts. Chernow was exposed to several movies that left a lasting impression and prompted her to make the likenesses of leading ladies. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Katharine Hepburn were the subjects of some of her works in the late 1990s. Chernow has worked extensively in the mediums of lithograph, silkscreen, etching, and colored pencil. Her first formal art education was at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester in the early 1940s, where she attended art classes in the museum galleries. After her family moved to Flushing in 1946, she studied under a local Italian painter, Giuseppe Trotta. Years after taking lessons with Trotta, Chernow eventually entered the School of Fine Arts at Syracuse University in 1953, but transferred soon after to New York University, where she earned her Master of Arts degree in 1969. As an undergraduate and graduate at NYU (1955–69), Chernow studied under the direction of several artists. Her instructors and mentors included Howard Conant, Jules Olitski, Irving Sandler, Lawrence Alloway and Hale Woodruff, all of whom influenced her through their teachings and artistic viewpoints. Toward the end of her academic education and for a few years afterwards, she worked for the art educator Victor D’Amico, and taught at the studio school of the Museum of Modern Art (1966–71). In the 1950s, Chernow’s style was centered on colorful abstractions, which were influenced by Jean Dubuffet, who was famous during that period. She subsequently dabbled in a variety of styles in the 1970s, including pop art, huge billboard paintings, sepia drawings of individual women and colored pencil drawings. Feminist art. Already in 1968, she had begun to explore lithography, although she only began to work seriously in printmaking (both lithography and etching) in 1978. She reached the height of her career with a number of evocative paintings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which depicted starlets of the 1930s and 1940s, as in Artist and Models (1998). In these later works, Chernow used close-ups of women who were quickly passed by the camera, as opposed to celebrated vintage Hollywood film...

Chéri tu es vraiment mon homme! is an amusing lithograph made by the French painter, illustrator and writer Amandine Doré in the second half of the 20th ...

Image dimensions: 10 x 7 cm. Untitled is an original mixed media colored etching realized by an italian master in 1994 Hand signed (not readable) and dated on the lower right margi...

Aldenburgum Holsatiae, or Stade, from the collection Civitates Orbis Terrarum by Braun Hogenberg. Precious hand-colored aquatint, hand watercolored, showing a view of Stade, indicat...

View of Scilla, Calabria, Italy. Etching and Watercolour (hand coloured) Very good conditions.

Titled: Avalon Ann Chernow (Connecticut b. 1936) etching. hand signed 'Ann Chernow' in pencil lower right. Numbered '5/15' in pencil lower left. Titled in pencil lower center. Sheet measures 18-in. x 24-in. Image is smaller. please see photos. Ann Chernow, née Levy, born 1936 in New York City, is known for her portrait-style illustrations that evoke the images of female cinematic figures of the 1930s and 1940s. Born and raised in New York City, Chernow studied music and art from a young age and acquired an affinity for the arts. Chernow was exposed to several movies that left a lasting impression and prompted her to make the likenesses of leading ladies. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Katharine Hepburn were the subjects of some of her works in the late 1990s. Chernow has worked extensively in the mediums of lithograph, silkscreen, etching, and colored pencil. Her first formal art education was at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester in the early 1940s, where she attended art classes in the museum galleries. After her family moved to Flushing in 1946, she studied under a local Italian painter, Giuseppe Trotta. Years after taking lessons with Trotta, Chernow eventually entered the School of Fine Arts at Syracuse University in 1953, but transferred soon after to New York University, where she earned her Master of Arts degree in 1969. As an undergraduate and graduate at NYU (1955–69), Chernow studied under the direction of several artists. Her instructors and mentors included Howard Conant, Jules Olitski, Irving Sandler, Lawrence Alloway and Hale Woodruff, all of whom influenced her through their teachings and artistic viewpoints. Toward the end of her academic education and for a few years afterwards, she worked for the art educator Victor D’Amico, and taught at the studio school of the Museum of Modern Art (1966–71). In the 1950s, Chernow’s style was centered on colorful abstractions, which were influenced by Jean Dubuffet, who was famous during that period. She subsequently dabbled in a variety of styles in the 1970s, including pop art, huge billboard paintings, sepia drawings of individual women and colored pencil drawings. Feminist art. Already in 1968, she had begun to explore lithography, although she only began to work seriously in printmaking (both lithography and etching) in 1978. She reached the height of her career with a number of evocative paintings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which depicted starlets of the 1930s and 1940s, as in Artist and Models (1998). In these later works, Chernow used close-ups of women who were quickly passed by the camera, as opposed to celebrated vintage Hollywood film...

Temple of Vesta is an original etching, hand-colored on paper realized by an Anonymous artist of the XIX century, titled on the lower left, the state o...

Shepherds is an original etching, hand-colored on paper realized by an Anonymous artist of the XIX century, the state of artwork is excellent. Image dimension: 12.5x17 cm. Includi...