All Nice and Hot

In this print, a jovial man, wearing a red jacket and green soft cap, is roasting sausages on a small dark metal brazier sitting on a stone ledge. The man offers a sausage on a fork "to the viewer" across the ledge, which separates the man's interior space from the "outdoor" space. A blue-green jug rests at the far right of the ledge. In the background interior at left, a wall cabinet is open, showing three shelves (each displaying a crockery jug or vessel). Below the cabinet, a plate rests on a brown table. In the right background, a green curtain drapes beside a window. The composition recalls the style of seventeenth century Dutch genre paintings or prints depicting village vendors.

Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who had established his successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) a business partner; the Currier & Ives firm operated until 1907. Many eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, images of boats and trains, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life, humorous pictures, and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.