Raven
After
Thomas Doughty
(American, 1793 - 1856)
Lithographer
Childs & Inman Press
(American, active Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1830 - 1833)
Date1830
MediumLithograph with colors
DimensionsImage: 7 × 9in. (17.8 × 22.9cm)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number73.172
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextThis hand-colored lithograph of a common raven, a large bird with black plumage and a croaking cry, appeared as plate 24 in Doughty’s Cabinet of Natural History and American Rural Sports, a book he edited with his brother between 1830 and 1832. It contained articles on hunting as well as descriptions of indigenous North American birds, animals, and plants. The illustrations that accompanied these articles are some of the finest examples of early American hand-colored lithography. The raven, drawn by Doughty “From Nature” and subsequently vividly hand-colored, is placed squarely in the foreground of the composition against a believable background setting that bears witness to Doughty’s skills as a landscape artist. An inscription in the lower right margin of the lithograph, “From Childs & Inmans [sic.] Press,” indicates that it was printed by a company that Cephas G. Childs (1793-1871) and the portrait painter Henry Inman (1801-48) ran in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1833.
Paul D. Schweizer
