Cottage Life – Spring
Lithographed and published by Currier & Ives American
Publisher Nathaniel Currier American
Not on view
The print, lettered with the names of both Nathaniel Currier and Currier & Ives, was published the year that the latter partnership was formed. It represents a country scene, with a carriage, horses and attendants waiting outside a large villa, as a family of five approaches on foot from the right.
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, made more than 7,000 lithographs for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories including landscape, marines, natural history, genre, caricatures, portraits, history and foreign views. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company at home.
