Mid-19th Century Figurative Prints

Attack of a Castle in the Middle Ages is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History of t...

Etching hand colored realized by Christoph Suhr in 1808. Belogs to the Series "Der Ausruf in Hamburg vorgestellt in ein hundert und zwanzig colorirten Blättern". Beautiful engravin...

Les Gitanos is a black and White etching realized by Edouard Manet in 1862.  Titled in the lower. Second state and lifetime impression realized by Société des Aquafortistes, with f...

La Sagge Femme is a lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by the French draftsman Paul Gavarni (alias Guillaume Sulpice Chevalier Gavarni, 1804-1866) in the mid-19th Century. ...

Realized by Manet in 1870/1874, this famous subject was printed in an apparently unique lifetime proof, as stated in Harris' Catalog. It was then printed in two posthumous edition, ...

Genjie is an original artwork realized in 1852 by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Oban yokoe. From the series "Sono Sugata yukari no utsushi-e" (Faithful images of the Radiant Princ...

Lithograph realized by Daumier in 1845, belonging to the Series "Les Gens de Justice" Table no. 13 of the Series. Hand monogrammed in the plate. Very good condition. Ref. Delteil...

This is one of the illustrations of "Dizionario di scienze naturali" (Natural sciences dictionary) edited by Battelli nel 1831.  The work was made of 29 volumes, containing hundreds ...

The Duchess Owl Sings For The Duke Owl is an original lithographs on ivory-colored paper realized by J.J. Grandville from Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux, 1852. Publi...

Nivette is an artwork realized by Charles Theodosius Heath (1785–1848) in the middle of the 19th century. Etching, painted by Henry Howard RA (1769-1847), engraved by Charles Heath....

Miya is a woodcut print realized by Utagawa Hiroshige in 1833.  It is part of the suite "The Fifty-three Stations of Tokaido". Very good condition.

Le Bucentaure is an original artwork realized by Eugene Huot between 1845-1847. Black and white etching After Antonio Canaletto depicting Palazzo Ducale in Venice. Printed by Paul ...

Ancient View of San Francisco in November 1848 is an original modern artwork realized in the first half of the 19th Century. Original L...

Napoleon visiting the Battlefield of Eylau is an Etching realized by Gros Pina in 1837. Good conditions. The artwork is realized in a well-balanced composition. the artwork and bel...

London: Thomas McLean, 1835. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper. 6 1/4 x 8 3/8 inches (157 x 210 mm), full margins. Initialed in the plate by Cruikshank, and bearing Frederick Marryat's anchor monniker. A well inked impression of this humorous print...

Senior Officer is a lithograph by Antonio Zezon. Naples 1853. Interesting colored lithograph which describes a Senior Officer of the Hunter Battalions riding his horse. In excellen...

Les Métamorphoses du Jour is an original modern rare book written by Various Authors and illustrated by Jean Jacques Grandville (Nancy, 1803 – ...

Deux Heures du Matin is the b/w lithograph plate ( n.6 ) from the satirical print series “ Les Trains de Plaisir”, composed of caricatures “ de mœurs” (of behaviours), realized by  H...

Lithograph realized by Daumier in 1859. Belongs to the Series "Ces Bons Parisien". Ref. Delteil 3241 Very good condition

Lithograph realized by Daumier in 1845, belonging to the Series "Les Gens de Justice" Table no. 6 of the Series. Hand monogrammed in the plate. Very good condition. Ref. Delteil ...

Ancient View of Salt Lake City is an original modern artwork realized in the first half of the 19th Century. Original B/W Lithograph on Ivory Paper. ...

Estan Calientes is an original artwork realized by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya and published for the first time in 1799. Original etching on paper. The plate is part of the Third Edition of "Los Caprichos" that was published in 1868 by the Calcografia Nacional for the Real Academia. Full edition includes 80 original plates. Plate N. 13. Numbered on the upper corner. Titled on the lower central margin "Estan Calientes" (They feel warm). Excellent conditions. It seems that Goya first...

Parisian is aLithograph realized by Gustave Dore in 1854. Good conditions except for some foxings. Hand-singed. The artwork is depicted in a well-balan...

St. Francis and the Crucifix is an original lithograph realized by Carlo Verdoni. Good condition on a brown paper. No signature. The very beautiful artwork is a watercolored litho...

Uses and Customs - Architecture is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History of the gov...

Plate n. 16 from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “ Croquis d’Été ”.  Realized by  Honoré Daumier  (France, 1808-1879), printed by Destouches, and published by th...

Beautiful lithograph with margins, realized by Daumier in 1855. It belongs to the Series "L'Exposition Universelle".  Ref. Delteil 2692. 

No. 45, View of Akasaka from "Comical Views of Famous Places in Edo" Woodblock Whimsical woodblock print by Utagawa Hirokage (Japanese, active 1855–1865). Four people are sitting on...

Very good proof belonging to the Charivari Edition. Scattered foxing, otherwise good condition. Customs stamp, penetrating the image. Good margins Ref. Delteil 33

Very good proof belonging to the Charivari Edition. Scattered foxing, otherwise good condition. Customs stamp. Good margins.  Ref. Delteil 41. 

Le Repos is a black and White etching realized by F. Roybet in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 23x32. Very good impression with wide margins and a very fresh inking. ...

William Hogarth was an English painter and engraver, the outstanding British artist of his period. During his childhood, his father, a schoolteacher, was imprisoned for debt, and th...

Beautiful lithograph with margins, realized by Daumier in 1855. It belongs to the Series "L'Exposition Universelle" Ref. Delteil 2684

View of Oran is an original Hand-colored lithograph on paper realized in 1846 by an Anonymous artist of the XIX century. Titled in Italian on the lower center "Oran". The state of...

Palermo is a  hand colored lithograph realized in 1864. Good conditions. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe, or History of the gov...

Plants of the Greenhouse is a black and white etching realized by Jules Jacquemart (1837-1880) in 1870s. Titled in the lower. Image size: 25.5cmx35cm. Good condition. Realized by...

Ex Libris Casimiro de Souza is an original Contemporary Artwork realized in the 1960s Original B/W woodcut print on paper. The work is glued on cardboard. Total dimensions: 21 x...

Beautiful lithograph with margins, realized by Daumier in 1855. It belongs to the Series "L'Exposition Universelle" Ref. Delteil 2702.

Un Paysan Russe is a black and white etching realized by Michel Bachiloff in 1862. Titled in the lower. Image size: 28cmx22cm. Good condition. Dated and signed on the lower left....

Withehaven is an etching realized in 1845 by W. H.Bartlett. Signed on the plate. Titled on the lower center. Good conditions with slight foxing. The artwork is beautifully reali...

Environs de Fontainebleau is a black and White etching realized by Michelin in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 29x30. Very good impression with wide margins and a ver...

Beautiful lithograph with margins, realized by Daumier in 1855. It belongs to the Series "L'Exposition Universelle" Ref. Delteil 2672

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...

Une Soirée Musicale is a lithograph realized by Honoré Daumier in 1852/57. It belongs to the Series "Soirées Parisiennes" Beautiful proof on thin vellum, bearing the rint certificat...

Frederic Lepia is an original Lithograph realized by D. M. Raffet in 1848. Good condition included a cream colored cardboard passpartout. Denis Auguste Marie Raffet (2 March 1804 –...

The Caricature is an Original Lithograph realized by Pierre Michel Delaporte in 1832. The artwork is window board. Allusion to the attacks against the opposition press early 1832. The title marks the sentence of Louise Philippe "Le cachot sera desormais un verite". Journal n. 70. Good condition included a white cardboard passpartout (49x32.5 cm). Signature stamped on the lower left corner. Pierre Michel Delaporte (5 September 1806 – 30 September 1872) was a 19th-century French playwright, painter, lithographer and political caricaturist. He also created numerous lithographies, illustrations and prints which were published in many newspapers and magazines, such as La Caricature (1830–1843) or Le Figaro.

St. Helena is an etching that belongs  to the suite AtlasBatt realized within Jacques Norvins' Histoire de Napoleon, published in 1837. Author Jacques Norvins published one of the m...

Le Village de Chanaz is a black and White etching realized by A. Appian in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 16x23. Very good impression with wide margins and a very fr...

Galeazzo Visconti is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History of the government, of th...

Lithograph realized by Daumier in 1845, belonging to the Series "Les Gens de Justice" Table no. 5 of the Series. Monogrammed in the plate. Very good condition. Ref. Delteil 1341

Plate n. 8 from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “ Croquis d’Été ”.  Realized by Honoré Daumier  (France, 1808-1879), printed by Destouches, and published by the ...

Plate n. 4 from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “Croquis d’Été ”.  Realized by Honoré Daumier  (France, 1808-1879), printed by Destouches, and published by the M...

Nivette is an artwork realized by Charles Theodosius Heath (1785–1848) in the middle of the 19th century. Etching, painted by Henry Howard RA (1769-1847), engraved by Charles Heath....

Comic Poems ("Seven illustrated books in one volume") is an original modern rare book illustrated by George Cruikshank (London, 1792 - London, 1878) in 1829/1830. Published by Johnston, London. Original First Edition. Seven books bound in one volume (Tom Thumb, The real Devil’s Walk, Monsieur Tonson, The March of intellect, The Devil’s Walk, Steamers v. Stages and The Epping Hunt). Format: in 12°. The book includes Fortyfive etchings and woodcuts. Mint conditions. George Cruikshank (London, 1792 - London, 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend di lui Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience. For Charles Dickens, Cruikshank illustrated Sketches by Boz...

Serbian Musician is an Original Etching realized by Theodore Valerio in 1854. The artwork is in very good condition, included a white cardboard passpartout (50x34 cm). Hand-signed ...

Surprise is a black and White etching realized by François Chifflart in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 24x32. Very good impression with wide margins and a very fresh...

Larrey is an etching realized by Pollet in 1837. Good conditions. The artwork is realized in a well-balanced composition. the artwork and belongs to the suite suite "AtlasBatt" rea...

Un Rocher dans les Communaux de Rix is a black and White etching realized by A. Appian in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 8 x 13, 8 x 12, 16 x 27 Very good impression...

Ancient View of Tronsberg is an original modern artwork realized in the mid-19th Century. Original B/W Lithograph on Ivory Paper. Inscripted on the lower margin in Capital Letter...

Le Gue is a black and White etching realized by Charles François Daubigny in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 30x37. Very good impression with wide margins and a very ...