Winter in the Country: Getting Ice
During the 1850s and early 1860s, George H. Durrie specialized in making landscapes and idyllic rural scenes. When the Currier & Ives printing firm selected ten of Durrie's paintings to be made into lithographs, Durrie's charming winter images became immensely popular with a vast public. In this snow-covered rural scene featuring a frozen pond, two men chop blocks of ice (creating a large hole in the pond), while another man loads the ice blocks a horse-drawn wooden sledge. In the background, four men skate on the pond. Mountains are shown in the distance, beyond a lone farm building in the right background. Prior to modern methods of refrigeration, a necessary winter chore was was cutting ice and packing it away for use during the rest of the year. Instead of depicting the hardships of country life, however, the artist idealized the scene's picturesque qualities, inspired by the Connecticut landscape, where he lived.
Nathaniel Currier, who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century America. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (1824-1895), the accounting-savvy brother-in-law of Nathaniel's brother Charles, was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, or rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.
Nathaniel Currier, who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century America. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (1824-1895), the accounting-savvy brother-in-law of Nathaniel's brother Charles, was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, or rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.
Artwork Details
- Title: Winter in the Country: Getting Ice
- Artist: After a painting by George Henry Durrie (American, New Haven, Connecticut 1820–1863 New Haven, Connecticut)
- Publisher: Lithographed and published by Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
- Date: 1864
- Medium: Two-color lithograph with hand-coloring
- Dimensions: Image: 18 3/8 in. × 27 in. (46.7 × 68.6 cm)
Image and text: 20 1/4 in. × 27 in. (51.4 × 68.6 cm)
Sheet: 24 5/8 × 31 5/8 in. (62.5 × 80.3 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962
- Object Number: 63.550.502
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.