Preparing for Market

In this idyllic farm scene, a woman hands a basket filled with eggs up to her husband, who stands in a wagon, which is hitched with one horse. On the ground behind her are baskets of vegetables (cabbages, carrots, onions, etc.), caged chickens, and a butter tub. Nearby, a hen, chicks, a duck and a turkey meander in the the foreground. A youth at right prepares to hitch a second horse to the wagon. At left, a small child stands in his nightshirt watching the market preparations from the small porch of the farm house.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints (most drawn on the stones by other artists) in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.