The Wedding Night
date: label: date made
content: ca 1850
name: label: maker
content: Schutz, J
notes: label: Description
content: Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
label: Description
content: These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
label: Description
content: This colored print depicts an indoor scene of a man kneeling behind a woman untying the stays of her corset. He wears a high-collared shirt, lace bowtie and striped trousers. Both are wearing slippers and earrings. The man’s expression is somewhat cartoonish. The fireplace has a carved mantle upon which sits a candle holder and lit candle. There is a chair with clothing draped over it. Heavy drapery and a bed are in the background. The rug is patterned.
label: Description
content: This lithograph was made by J Shutz, a lithographer who worked for Currier & Ives from 1849-1850. He was the firm’s primary letterer, and was responsible for lettering a large quantity of prints.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: World
topic: label: Subject
content: Furnishings
label: Subject
content: Comic prints
label: Subject
content: Heating
label: Subject
content: Lighting
label: Subject
content: Adornment
label: Subject
content: Marriage
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1850-1859
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2281
label: catalog number
content: 60.2281
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: hand-colored (image production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 11 1/2 in x 8 1/2 in; 29.21 cm x 21.59 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 in x 10 1/2 in; 35.56 cm x 26.67 cm