Watercolor Prints and Multiples

Artist: Beth Van Hoesen – American (1926- 2010) Title: Fresno Basket Date: 1974 Medium: Color aquatint and etching, hand colored with watercolor Image Size: 12.25 x 12.75 inches Fram...

Paul GAUGUIN (after) Tahitian Ladies Lithograph and Watercolor stencil Printed signature of the Monogram in the plate On thin vellum 47 x 58 cm (c. 19 x 25 inch) Edited by Jacomet ...

General Sir Eire Coote is an original print realized in 1816 ca. Original mixed colored hand watercolored lithograph . Title printed on plate on the lower margin. Published by Ric...

Large scale black and white etching depicting an abstracted pool, at David Hockney’s home in Los Angeles. This hand painted Howard Hodgkin work is i...

Over 150 year old engraved map of Europe by Olney from 1844. Original hand color. Shows Northern Europe, Prussia and Germany. Original antique map o...

Morris Cox (1903-1998) Poem 5 from 9 Poems from Nature, 1959 Linocut inked with watercolours Image: 19.0 x 27.0 cm Frame: 34.5 x 41.5 cm Provenance: Morris Cox Archive Morris C...

Artist: Cornelius Nozeman (Dutch, 1720-1786) Title: "Ardea, Nycticorax (Black-crowned Night Heron)" (Plate 78) Portfolio: Nederlandsche Vogelen (Dutch Bird...

Artist: John Gould (English, 1804-1881) Title: "Aegiothus Linaria (Common Redpoll)" (Vol. 3, Plate 51) Portfolio: The Birds of Great Britain Year: 1862-1873 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper Limited edition: approx. 750 Printer: Walter or Walter & Cohn, London, UK Publisher: Taylor and Francis, John Gould, London, UK Reference: Sauer No. 23; Ayer/Zimmer page 261; Wood page 365; Nissen No. IVB 372; Sitwell page 78 Sheet size: 21.63" x 14.75" Image size: 13.75" x 10.5" Condition: Faint UV stain to sheet. Remnants of mounting tape from previous framing on verso. Has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition with strong colors Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Aspen, CO. Lithography and hand-coloring by John Gould and English artist Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902). Comes from Gould's five volume "The Birds of Great Britain", (1862-1873) (First edition), which consists of 367 hand-colored lithographs. Other contributing lithographers were German artist Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Irish artist William Hart (1830-1908). "The Birds of Great Britain" is recognized as Gould's greatest work. Gold gilded edges as issued. The common redpoll or mealy redpoll is a species of bird in the finch family. It breeds somewhat further south than the Arctic redpoll, also in habitats with thickets or shrubs. Biography: John Gould FRS (14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist and bird artist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates that he produced with the assistance of his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. He has been considered the father of bird study in Australia and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, "On the Origin of Species".

Monotype ev edition 2/7 with hand coloring. The plate (image) is 15 x 14 inches and the overall paper size is 29 1/2 x 22 inches. The artist spent 12 years creating monotype ev's, an...

"Sur la rivière (Marne)" - On the River Marne - Hand Colored Lithograph Serene depiction of a house along the Marne River by unknown artist "Charlot." This piece was commissioned and printed by Camilla Lucas Publishing in New York. A two-story house with a red roof sits on the bank of the river. Lush trees line the banks, some of which are depicted with orange-brown leaves, indicating that autumn has arrived. The color in this piece was added by hand. Titled "Sur la riviere (Marne)" in the lower left corner. Signed "Charlot" in the lower right corner. Presented in a wood frame with a double mat. Frame size: 20"W x 16"W Image size: 11.5"H x 9"W In 1928, Hungarian-born Sidney Zoltan Lucas founded "Camilla Lucas Publishing" which encompassed a wholesale art publishing house and a retail art gallery. This business was both wholesale and retail and dealt in reproductions of antique, modern, and contemporary prints. It also sold original art including etchings, lithographs, and paintings. Starting in the 1930's and continuing into the 1950's, Sydney Lucas traveled to Europe periodically and contracted with French and Flemish artists to publish their work under the banner of the "Paris Etching Society." During his career, Sydney published many thousands of images. He brought art into the homes of people at all levels of income through his etchings, serigraphs, woodblock prints, restrikes and reproductions. The various subjects included Redouté and Prevost Flowers, Barraband and Gould Birds, Piranesi, French Landscapes, Urban Scenes, Women, Children, Animals, Hunting and much more. Later on in the 1950s, Sydney and his wife Phyllis Lucas became the first North American publishers of original signed, limited edition lithographs by the famous surrealist artist Salvador Dali. They worked directly with Mr. Dali over several years and the three created such fine images that in 1985 the Lucas’ Collection of limited edition lithographs from Salvador Dali’s paintings were displayed alongside his original paintings at the Salvador Dali Museum...

Paul KLEE (after) The Man With Pear Tree Lithograph and stencil (Jacomet process), on canson paper Signed in the board 50 x 38.2 cm (19.6 x 14.9 in) INFORMATION : This lithograph w...

"At the Ebb Zone" is an original, signed aquatint print on 100% rag paper with hand embellishments in colorful watercolors by artist Ava Blitz. Image measures 12" x 19", plus there i...

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Les Tranchées Etching from 1967. Th edition of 122/145 on Japan paper. Enhanced with watercolor.. Dimensions of work: 38 x 28.5 cm Publisher: Graphik ...

Patty deGrandpre’s “Landlocked (Cactus, a million needles)” is an 12.375 x 16 inch unique abstract mixed media print represented on Awagami Bamboo Japanese paper utilizing both print...

Roberto Marfil (Mexico, 1958) 'Medea', 1997 watercolor on paper 15.4 x 18.6 in. (39 x 47 cm.) ID: MAR1213-002-001 Unframed Hand-signed by author

This powerful original gouache painting from 1983 by the celebrated Soviet satirical collective Kukryniksy embodies a direct and forceful critique of colonial oppression and racial i...

[CHINESE SCHOOL]. Group of Eight Exotic Fruit. 19th century, c.1880. Group of eight watercolour and gouache pith papers of Exotic Fruits, edged in turquoise silk ribbon and laid ...

Alexander Emperor is an original print realized in 1816 ca. Original mixed colored hand watercolor lithograph . Title printed on plate on the lower margin. Published by Richard Ev...

"Notable Citadine" translated to "City Notable" is plate number 2 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Morocco from ...

Whimsical 1970's hand painted botanical silkscreen of a spider plant by Babette Joslyn Bauman Eddleston (American, 1922-1990). This limited edition screen print has splashes of color painted in by hand. The edition number 22/270 is written lower left. It is titled "Spider Plant" and signed "Babette Eddleston...

Paul KLEE (after) Portrait of a Yellow Lithograph and stencil (Jacomet process), on canson paper Printed signature in the plate 50 x 38.2 cm (19.6 x 14.9 in) INFORMATION : This lit...

Luis Miguel Valdes (Cuba, 1949) 'La Lengua Castellana (Yellow)" (The Spanish Tongue/Language), 2015 woodcut, manual intervention on paper 47.3 x 84.7 in. (120 x 215 cm.) Edition of 1...

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Umbrella Man Year: 2015 Medium: Watercolor and silkscreen on Fabriano paper Size: 12 x 13.75 inches Inscription: Signed in ink Notes: Published, print...

Paul KLEE (after) Miraculous Docking : Boat and House Lithograph and stencil (Jacomet process), on canson paper Printed signature in the plate 50 x 38.2 cm (19.6 x 14.9 in) INFORMA...

Pierre Auguste RENOIR (after) Shepherdess and lamb Lithograph and stencil (Jacomet process) Printed signature in the plate On paper mounted on vellum 45 x 34 cm (c. 18 x 13 inch) E...

Artist: François-Nicolas Martinet (French, 1731-1800) Title: "Le Millouinan" (Plate 1002) Portfolio: Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux *Signed by Martinet in the plate (printed signatur...

The title continues “…. Most Humbly Inscribd [sic] to his Royal Highness George Prince of Wales.” A fine British produced double hemisphere world map. On this map, California is shown as an island on the main double hemisphere map...

Abstract black and white hand painted print of interior scene with dots, lines, shadow and painted brushstroke texture. Ideal for display in minimalist, modern and contemporary space...

Artist: Saverio Manetti (Italian, 1723-1785) Title: "Sparrowhawk" (Plate XXI - 21) Portfolio: Storia Naturale Degli Uccelli (The Natural History of Birds) Year: 1767-1776 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Engraving on watermarked laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Unknown Publisher: heirs of Francesco Mouck (Vols. I-III), Gaetano Cambiagi (Vol. IV), Giuseppe Vanni (Vol. V), Florence, Italy Reference: Ayer/Zimmer page 241; Fine Bird Books page 120; McGill/Wood, page 450; Nissen IVB No. 588 Sheet size: 17.88" x 14.07" Platemark size: 13.69" x 11.69" Condition: A few small minor areas of discoloration in margins. Has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition with strong colors Rare Notes: Engraved and hand-colored by Italian artists Lorenzo Lorenzi (Active: 1750-1780) and Violante Vanni (1732-1776). Latin and Italian texts by Saverio Manetti. Comes from Manetti's monumental five volume "Storia Naturale Degli Uccelli (The Natural History of Birds)", (1767-1776), which consists of 600 hand-colored engravings. Unidentified watermark in center of sheet. The Eurasian sparrowhawk, also known as the northern sparrowhawk or simply the sparrowhawk, is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Adult male Eurasian sparrowhawks have bluish grey upperparts and orange-barred underparts; females and juveniles are brown above with brown barring below. Manetti's extraordinary "Storia Naturale Degli Uccelli (The Natural History of Birds)", 1767-1776 was commissioned by Maria Luisa, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany. It is a massive 5 book volume set of 600 hand-colored engraved plates of birds. Engraved and hand-colored by Italian artists Lorenzo Lorenzi (Active: 1750-1780) and Violante Vanni (1732-1776). Latin and Italian texts by Manetti. Manetti created the drawings almost exclusively from real specimens, beginning with the extensive collection of Marquis Giovanni Gerini, an affluent Florentine Senator. Manetti saw the work was published in parts of 12 plates, issued every two months or so, most plates dedicated to a prominent member of the Italian nobility and gentry. Printed on handmade watermarked laid paper and published by heirs of Francesco Mouck (Vols. I-III), Gaetano Cambiagi (Vol. IV), Giuseppe Vanni (Vol. V), between 1767-1776 in Florence, Italy. It took 10 years to complete and at its time, was one of the largest surveys of ornithology attempted and the finest set of bird books to ever be created. Biography: Francesco Saverio Manetti...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Once again returning to the themes of death and rebirth, in 2021 Kiki Smith introduced Red Breast as a unique print created with rubber stamps and watercolor. Hand-signed, dated and ...

Step into the fantastical universe of Yvon Taillandier with Vive Bozo Bek et ses amis, a jubilant ode to imagination and camaraderie. As a central figure in the post-war French avant...

"Femme de Tiznit Portant L'Amendil" translated to "Woman of Tiznit Wearing the Amendil" is plate number 47 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and ...

"Ocean's Edge" - Giclee Print on Watercolor Paper Giclee print of the Oceans Edge by California artist Jan Bearse (American, 20th Century). Colorful buoys are the focal point, with...

Nude is an original artwork realized in 1970 by the italian Contemporary artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original drawing in China ink and watercolor on ivory-colored paper. Han...

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Les Tiroirs Etching from 1967. Th edition of 122/145 on Japan paper. Enhanced with watercolor.. Dimensions of work: 38 x 28.5 cm Publisher: Graphik Eu...

Bright colors and abstract textures highlight two shapes, like a pair of eyes, at the center of this etching with watercolor and pastel. Howard Hodgkin based this print on a trip he...

The Scare is an original painting realized by Sergio Barletta in 1997. Applied on passepartout: 51 x 72 cm. Image Dimensions: 30 x 43 cm Hand-signed on the lower left. In good con...

'Elizabeth's Cone II', Hand Colored Aquatint Etching with the plate (image itself) 15 x 22 inches. On a larger piece of archival paper . An iconic still life image featuring the “tragedy” of a dropped ice cream cone. The artist came to see dropped cones as fleeting promises of joy; offering refreshing coolness, a mixture of favorite flavors, soft ice cream gushiness, and crunch of cake cone. Whether devoured or dropped, their existence is short lived. Beside the alluring visual attributes, dropped cones represent a metaphor for the temporal nature of life, itself. And was an important sub-series for James Torlakson...

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Zero Man/Lady Profile Year: 2015 Medium: Watercolor and silkscreen on Fabriano paper Size: 15 x 15 inches Inscription: Signed in ink Notes: Published,...

Artist: Peter Max (1937) Title: Umbrella Man Year: 2015 Medium: Watercolor and silkscreen on Fabriano paper Size: 12 x 13.75 inches Inscription: Signed in ink Notes: Published, print...

Bold woodblock print by Byron Randall (American, 1918-1999). Titled "Schooner + Doryman", numbered "1st ed.", and signed and dated "Byron Randall '62" along the bottom edge. Small am...

"Strepsilas Interpres." John Gould Turnstone lithograph c.1850 by John Gould (England, 1804-1881). Print by J. Gould & H.C. Richter, hand colored lithograph...

Hand-colored steel engraving of a the Turkish section of the Great Exhibition of 1851 by Lowes Cato Dickinson (British, 1819-1908). On verso i...

Artist: Nathaniel Wallich (Danish, 1786-1854) Title: "Salvia cana (Woolly Sage)" (Plate 116) Portfolio: Plantae Asiaticae Rariores; or, Descriptions and Figures of a Select Number of Unpublished East Indian Plants Year: 1830-1832 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on J. Whatman paper Limited edition: 254 Printer: Engelmann, Graf, Coindet & Co., London, UK Publisher: Richard Taylor for Treuttel & Würtz, London, UK Reference: Nissen BBI No. 2099; Pritzel No. 9957; Stafleu-Cowan No. 16583; Dunthorne No. 326 Sheet size: 21.13" x 14.25" Condition: Some scattered tiny handling creases to sheet. Has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition with strong colors Rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Aspen, CO. Lithography by Maltese artist...

Monotype ev edition 3/4 with heavy hand coloring. The plate is 28 x 28 inches and the overall paper size is 33 1/2 x 32 inches. Signed, titled and dated. Kim Frohsin spend 12 years w...

Rue de la Paix, Paris - Hand Colored Lithograph 1845-1860 Delicate hand-colored lithograph of Rue de la Paix Palace in Paris, France printed by Rose-Joseph Lemercier (French, 1803 - 1887). Published, Paris 1843 to 1867 by Hautecoeur Freres (Eugène and Alfred Hautecoeur (French). After Charles Riviere...

Fishing in the Lake is an original modern artwork realized in the 1950s by the Italian artist Emilio Grau (Barcelona, 1922 - Paris, 1975). Original Colored Lithograph refined with watercolors. Passepartout is included (dimensions: cm 38 x 30). Mint conditions. Fishing in the Lake is an excellent and refined work depicting a genre scene in the nature. A couple of figures is on a lake immersend in the greening vegetation. The work has been realized by the Catalan artist Emilio Grau (Barcelona, 1922 - Paris, 1975). He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. With his wife Ángeles Santos Torroella...

Archival Pigment Iris Print. Edition 5/12 with heavy hand coloring and miced media worked over the print. Kim Frohsin spent 12 years working on monotype ev's and Iris prints, and wor...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Albert Einstein "E", a color collotype print, watercolor modern portrait by Lilya Vorobey (American, 20th C). Titled "E" lower left, signed and dated "L. Vorobey '89" lower right. On...

Zeal Harris is known for creating seductive, caricaturesque, political, urban-vernacular, story paintings, with a blunt mix of high-brow/low-brow elements. Her micro-narratives offer...

Roman Columns is a lot of two hand-watercolored lithographs realized by an Italian artist of the XIX century later watercolored, and representing the beautiful historiated columns wi...

The present hand-colored lithograph is an excellent example of patriotic mid-nineteenth century American imagery. The print shows the battle and several of the major figures involved in the Battle of Lake Erie: At the center is a view of several frigates on the lake, embroiled in conflict. Above the battle is the quotation: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." Surrounding are laurel-lined roundels with portraits of Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819), Stephen Dicateur (1779-1820), Johnston Blakeley (1871-1814), William Bainbridge (1774-1833), David Porter (1780-1843), and James Lawrence (1781-1813) - all of these framed by American flags, banners and cannons. This print shows that the Battle of Lake Erie, part of the War of 1812, still held resonance for American audiences several decades later and was part of the larger narrative of the founding of the country. 9.5 x 13.5 inches, artwork 20 x 23.38 inches, frame Entitled in the image Signed in the stone, lower left "Lith. and Pub. by N. Currier" Inscribed lower right "2 Spruce N.Y." and "No. 1" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1846 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and housed in a gold gilded 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...

"Moghanzi du Sultan" translated to "The Sultan's Moghazni" is plate number 4 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Mo...

Artist: François-Nicolas Martinet (French, 1731-1800) Title: "Le Canard a Longue Queue (The Long Tailed Duck)" (Plate 954) Portfolio: Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux *Signed by Martin...

Girl's shoes, heels or tap shoes in bronze, black and gold, featured in this Monotype ev edition 8/8 with hand coloring. Kim Frohsin spent 12 years working o...

Artist: François-Nicolas Martinet (French, 1731-1800) Title: "Canard de Miclon (Old Squaw)" (1008) Portfolio: Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux *Signed by Martinet in the plate (printed...

Fresco from Pompeii is a beautiful hand-watercolored etching realized by Francois Mazois, in 1922. Titled on the lower center. Sculptor's name on the lower right margin. Good condi...

Dionisio MORETTI Venice, Santa Chiara Island, 1831 Original etching Finely enhanced by hand with watercolor On vellum 26 x 41 cm (c. 10.2 x 16 inc...