Grandpapa's Pet
date: label: date made
content: 1843
name: label: artist
content: Richard, John H.
label: lithographer
content: Duval, Peter S.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
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 (Brief)
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 (Brief)
content: This is a lithotint; interior scene of a seated older man with his cane and a dog sleeping near his feet. A standing child, presumably the man's granddaughter, is facing him. Simple furnishings include a bench, chest or bureau, and a chair. A plant, shovel and saw are also depicted.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The inscription indicates that the print was drawn specifically for Miss Leslie's Magazine and published in April 1843, in the year the periodical debuted. This print was considered the first true lithotint produced in the US, the result of a partnership and experiments between artist/ draftsman/engraver John H. Richard (b. 1807) and printer/lithographer Peter S. Duval in 1841/1842. The print was described in Miss Leslie's as a product of both art and technology and considered a great breakthrough in publishing. It was printed in color from one stone. Peters S. Duval was a French immigrant, who worked in Philadelphia, originally for Cephas G. Childs. He founded his own firm eventually and a family of lithographers.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Furnishings
label: Subject
content: Costume
label: Subject
content: Pets
label: depicted
content: Dogs
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Art
label: See more items in
content: Peters Prints
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Peters, Harry T.. America on Stone
label: Related Publication
content: Miss Leslie's Magazine
label: Related Publication
content: Marzio, Peter. Democratic Art: An Exhibition on the History of Chromolithography in America 1840-1900
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.60.2226
label: catalog number
content: 60.2226
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithotint
label: Object Type
content: Lithotint
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: lithotint (image production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 6 in x 4 1/2 in; 15.24 cm x 11.43 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 1/2 in x 6 in; 24.13 cm x 15.24 cm