Watercolor Figurative Prints

"En Salada" Salad Fixings Etching on Paper by Joseph C. MaCarthy This Intaglio print, titled "En Salada," by San Francisco Bay area artist Joseph C. McCarthy (American, 20th C), cre...

A scene from a series of ghost stories and spooky rural legends. Tokyo: Matsuki Heikichi, 1896. Woodcut in ink with embossing and hand-coloring in watercolor on handmade mulberry pa...

Les cygnes by Georges Manzana Pissarro (1871-1961) Watercolour monotype 49 x 63 cm (19 ¹/₄ x 24 ³/₄ inches) Signed lower left, manzana Executed circa 1920 Provenance: Private collec...

The present hand-colored lithograph was produced as part of the funeral and mourning culture in the United States during the 19th century. Images like this were popular as ways of remembering loved ones, an alternative to portraiture of the deceased. This lithograph shows a man, woman and child in morning clothes next to an urn-topped stone monument. Behind are additional putto-topped headstones beneath weeping willows, with a steepled church beyond. The monument contains a space where a family could inscribe the name and death dates of a deceased loved one. In this case, it has been inscribed to a young Civil War soldier: William W. Peabody Died at Fairfax Seminary, VA December 18th, 1864 Aged 18 years The young Mr. Peabody probably died in service for the Union during the American Civil War. Farifax Seminary was a Union hospital and military headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The hospital served nearly two thousand soldiers during the war time. Five hundred were also buried on the Seminary's grounds. 13.75 x 9.5 inches, artwork 23 x 19 inches, frame Published before 1864 Inscribed bottom center "Lith. & Pub. by N. Currier. 2 Spruce St. N.Y." Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and TruVue Conservation Clear glass, housed in a gold gilded 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...

Amida, a Deity of Japan; One plate from A new and complete collection of voyages and travels containing all that have been remarkable from the earliest period to the present time Vol...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Price is for one framed print. Prints sold individually. Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised ...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

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...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

A richly hand-colored image with a counterstrike on the verso. London: Hannah Humphrey, 1804. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on buff wove paper, 10 1/4 x 15 inches (260 x...

Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...

From, The Progress of a Midshipman, Exemplified in the Career of Master Blockhead 1860 (plate 2) Etching with handcoloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 1835. 210 x 290 mm; 8 3/...

Two (2) historiated engraved maps, each 11 1/4 x 16 7/16 inches (285 x 418 mm) with handcoloring, on wove paper, the latter engraved by C. Smith after Couché fils, published by Combe...

The Grand Coronation Banquet of King George IV at Westminster Hall, the oldest building on the Parliamentary estate. A Prospect of the Inside of Westminster Hall; The Grand Coronati...

Title: Noah's Ark III Medium: Etching with hand watercolor Four plates, each one 14.5 x 20 inches Condition: new, never framed Date: 1981 This is a set of four etchings that make up...

Katy Kidd’s work is a bold and honest reflection of a world that doesn’t make sense. Through painting, prints, collage, and street art, she explores big questions about religion, pow...

A couple seen in the hills of Greenwich with the Thames and London in the distrance. London: 1835. Lithograph with hand coloring in watercolor on heavy wove paper, 13 x 18 1/4 inch...

Printed on 300gr off-white Arches velin paper, combining a traditional soft ground etching using a copper plate with unique hand-finished elements in pencil and watercolor. Hand sig...

Paris: L'Estampe Moderne, 1897. Color wood engraving on light-weight, cream-colored imitation vellum, 13 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches (342 x 252 mm), full margins. With the L'Estampe Moderne ...

ZOFIA ANNA MISIAK Zofia Anna Misiak is a contemporary painter from an artistic family. Her parents are Janina Żylińska and Stanisław Misiak. Zofia Anna Misiak graduated from the Acad...

Bold woodblock print by Byron Randall (American, 1918-1999). Titled "Schooner + Doryman", numbered "1st ed.", and signed and dated "Byron Randall '62" along the bottom edge. Small am...

Victorian-style drypoint etching by James Dobie (British, 1849-1911), after a painting by Walter Dendy Sadler. Printed in London by J. Brooker & Co. and ha...

Portrait of Boy is an original artwork realized by Hugo Pereyra in 1964. Original Ink and Watercolor Hand-signed.

Rue de la Paix, Paris - Hand Colored Lithograph 1845-1860 Delicate hand-colored lithograph of Rue de la Paix Palace in Paris, France printed by Rose-Joseph Lemercier (French, 1803 - 1887). Published, Paris 1843 to 1867 by Hautecoeur Freres (Eugène and Alfred Hautecoeur (French). After Charles Riviere...

Aquatint printed in brownish ink with extensive hand coloring in watercolor on buff paper, 10 1/4 x 12 1/2 inches (260 x 317 mm) (sheet), uneven narrow to full margins. Laid down to a contemporary wove paper support. Scattered condition issues on the sheet (excluding the mount) include surface soiling, creasing, a significant vertical repaired tear, and toning, despite these issues, the hand coloring remains good. Suitable for framing. From A Picturesque Tour Through the Cities of London and Westminster, Illustrated With the most interesting Views, accurately delineated And executed in Aquatinta By Thomas Malton, published by Thomas Malton, London 1796. The work was published serially, in twenty-five numbers. The plates in Volume I carry the dates 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796 or 1797; those in Volume II, the dates 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800 or 1801. In most copies the title page of Volume I carries the publisher's later address, of 103 Long Acre...

From, The Progress of a Midshipman, Exemplified in the Career of Master Blockhead 1860 (plate 7) Etching with handcoloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 8 3/8 x 11 1/2 inches (2...

Etching on cream wove paper, 8 1/8 x 9 3/4 inches (205 x 246 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil, lower right margin. One minor printing defect appearing as a slightly folded bottom ...

Lithograph with hand tinting on heavy wove paper, full margins. Significant condition issues in the margins which include adhesive residue, edge tears and minor edge losses. The image area is clean with minor mat tone, however, colors are slightly attenuated. The verso shows moderate uneven toning. Issues primarily exist outside of the image area. This large and lively work was printed by Charles Hullmandel. _______ The images in Boys's 1842 portfolio, Original Views of London...

London: Allen & West, 1797. Engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 8 1/8 x 10 5/8 inches (213 x 270 mm), wide margins. Scattered toning, mat tone, and dog-e...

London: Thomas McLean, 1825. Aquatint with engraving and handcoloring in watercolor on wove paper, 8 7/8 x 10 3/4 inches (225 x 272 mm), wide margins. Light handling wear and four s...

An image that originally appeared in an astrological calendar for the year 1766. Tokyo: Shuei-Sha, 1766. Woodblock print in colors printed on laid mulberry paper, 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 in...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

A lovely grand tour image of the Doric architectural masterpiece dedicated to Castor and Pollux. Dated 1863. Watercolor and graphite on lightweight card stock, 10 x 13 3/4 inches (2...

A rare early 19th century view of the Great Fire of London over Ludgate, enhanced with hand coloring. London: Robert Wilkinson, 1811. Copperplat...

"Wine - SKOL" Intaglio and Hand painted on Paper by Diana Brady Original 1983 Intaglio titled "Appetizer" from the "The Perfect Meal" Folio featuring 14 Artists at San Francisco St...

Two botanical prints after Cornelis Bloemaert & Vincenzo Leonardi "Lemon", from Hesperides. Reproductive print on thick C.M. Fabriano cotton wove paper; and Pierre Joseph Buchot (17...

Paris: c1675. Five engravings: "Une Autre Partie du Palais Villa Mene a Gene" Engraving with hand-coloring, circa 1760-1790, on laid paper, with a Letters watermark (WA....), publis...

Les Tuileries, Paris - Hand Colored Lithograph Delicate hand-colored lithograph of Tuileries Palace in Paris, France printed by Rose-Joseph Lemercier (French, 1803 - 1887). Published, Paris 1843 to 1867 by Hautecoeur Freres (Eugène and Alfred Hautecoeur (French). After Charles Riviere...

Abstract portrait of a Woman Finely Detailed Collotype on paper Finely detailed abstract collotype of a woman by Heather Speck a San Francisco. Californi...

London: Charles Joseph Hullmandel, 1842. Lithograph with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 17 5/16 x 12 3/16 inches (440 x 309 mm), full margins. Scattered foxing thro...

A scarce impression of cartographer James Duffield Harding's view of the Port of London as it was in 1834. London: 1834. Lithograph with hand coloring in watercolor on heavy wove p...

London: Thomas McLean, 1835. Third Edition. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 1818 (published August 1st, 1835) 9 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches (240 x 348 mm), full...

Pair of reproductive prints after Jean le Pautre’s engravings after Claude Ballin, 1670s, heightened with gouache and gold, on Fabriano wove paper, a deckle edge at bottom. 22 x 14 3...

Four 18th Century Optical views "Vue des Rives de la Seine prise du Pont Neuf à Paris" "Vue de la Place de l'Hôtel de Ville et du Phare à Calais" "Vue de Paris prise du Port de la Co...

Robert Wilkinson, 1816. Copperplate engraving on buff wove paper with hand coloring in watercolor, 10 7/8 x 13 /4 inches (275 x 336 mm), full margins. In good condition with some sc...

Le Buste, from the Series "Faust" (La Nuit de Walpurgis), is an artwork realized in 1968/69. Etching, Drypoint, Watercolor and Roulette on Japon Paper. Hand signed and numbered. Ed...

A Scene in the New Farce —as performed at the Royalty Theater London: George Humphrey, 1821. Etching and engraving on cream wove paper with extensive hand coloring in watercolor. 9 5/8 x 13 3/4 inches (244 x 348 mm), trimmed at the platemark. A beautiful impression of this large, intricate print...

London: Thomas McLean, 1835. Third Edition. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 9 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches (240 x 348 mm), full margins. With light, fresh color....

Paris: L'Eclipse, 1872. Woodcut engraving with handcoloring on light-weight wove paper, 13 3/4 x 11 5/8 inches (347 x 294 mm), margins trimmed. Illustrated in Histoire de la révolut...

London: Thomas McLean, 1835. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper, 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches (120 x 165 mm), full margins. Printed by Thomas McLean. Light, small c...

An image of the last major insurrection in Great Britain, known as Guy Fawkes's Cato Street Conspiracy. London: Thomas Mclean, 1835. Etching with hand colo...