Blue Monday

This print shows a drunken cobbler (a fat red-nosed man) being berated by his wife -- a domestic scene gone awry. In the left background are a work bench, tools, boot lasts, etc. of the husband's cobbler trade. Having returned home drunk, the husband is on his knees in front of a large woman, who holds him by his dark hair and is about to beat him with a leather belt held in her upraised right hand. At left, a boy, seated on the floor, has both his legs within one of his father's large boots; he holds a slate as he looks at his mother. Near him, a meowing cat has been hit by a fallen chair. At right, a girl stands embracing a large boot containing her doll, while a baby rolls backwards and upside down at her feet (because she dropped the baby?). In the right background, a grinning man (the husband's red-nosed drinking companion) peeks around the door.


The New York firm of Currier & Ives grew from a printing business established by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) in 1835. Expansion led, in 1857, to a partnership with James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). The firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories, including landscape, city views, daily life subjects, caricatures, portraits, among others.