Splendid View of Country Life in Autumn

"American Country Life. October Afternoon", Currier & Ives

This splendid view captures a quintessential "October afternoon" in the country. At center, a gentlemen returns from the hunt and presents his family with the prize, while farmers in the background harvest crops. In the background is a large well-kept Victorian house, indicating the family's status and wealth. This is one of a series of country landscapes depicting the four seasons - the other scenes are May Morning, Summer's Evening, and Pleasures of Winter. Drawn by Fanny Palmer, a successful female artist who Harry Peters noted "there is no more interesting and appealing character among the group of artists who worked for Currier & Ives." The imprint at bottom shows Nathaniel Currier's address at 152 Nassau St. Sheet size is 27.2 x 21.3".

Currier and Ives was a printmaking company based in New York City from 1834-1907, specializing in high quality, hand printed and colored stone lithographs. The focus of their work was American life, cities and people, and they often employed celebrated artists of the day to render drawings to be reproduced in print form.

References: Pratt, p. 232; Peters, pp. 26-29.

Condition: B+

Issued on a thick sheet with light toning and a few faint dampstains. Minor soiling mostly in the blank margins. Moderate toning and remnants of hinge tape on verso.