Egyptian Street Scene
date: label: Date made
content: 1881
name: label: original artist
content: Bridgman, Frederick Arthur
label: graphic artist
content: Smillie, James David
notes: label: Description
content: James David Smillie etched Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s painting of a Middle Eastern street scene <i>Lady of Cairo Visiting</i> for the <i>American Art Review</i> issue of June 1881. Commenting on the issue, the <i>New York Times</i> noted that Smillie had been “particularly happy in his drawing” of the donkey, which appears prominently in the print.
label: Description
content: A catalogue raisonné of Smillie’s prints has estimated that about 10,000 impressions of this scene were made, primarily for use as art magazine illustrations. To produce such a large number of prints from a copper plate, a soft metal that deteriorates with use, the publishers would have had to face the copper by electroplating. In this process (known as “steel facing”), a thin layer of iron is deposited on the copper plate.
label: Description
content: Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847–1928) trained with Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris and later was known as “the American Gérôme.” He made a number of trips from his Paris base to North Africa and Egypt to sketch and collect artifacts for his paintings of Egyptian and Algerian subjects.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
label: See more items in
content: Ferris Collection
label: See more items in
content: Communications
label: See more items in
content: Art
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Brucia Witthoft. The Fine-Arts Etchings of James David Smillie 1833-1909
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: GA.14802
label: catalog number
content: 14802
label: accession number
content: 94830
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 19.5 cm x 16 cm; 7 11/16 in x 6 5/16 in
label: Measurements
content: plate: 24 cm x 20 cm; 9 7/16 in x 7 7/8 in
label: Measurements
content: sheet: 28 cm x 23.5 cm; 11 in x 9 1/4 in