We've Had a Healthy Time!

In this humorous print, a dog and cat (followed by a kitten) greet a fashionably dressed woman as she enters the doorway (right) of her parlor. She is open-mouthed with shock as sees the destruction her pets (a parrot, a monkey, the dog, the cat and kittens) have caused to her furnishings. At the center, a green parrot with a red/orange head and a broken wing is perched one-footed on a tall stand; it holds a monkey tail in its left claw. Below the parrot, a monkey sits on the edge of an overturned chair and holds two long parrot tail feathers (plucked from the bird) to its mouth. On the floor nearby, a dead kitten lies on its back with its paws in the air. Between the central mess and the fireplace (left), there is a damaged writing desk amid scattered papers, a spillling ink bottle, another overturned chair, and a broken vase. On the mantelpiece of the fireplace, a clock has been knocked over; the decorative border of the mantelpiece base has been ripped away. At the top center of the image, a kitten, with its tail tied to a floating balloon, dangles above a chest of drawers; its paw knocks askew a hanging framed sign {saying "BLESS OUR/ HOME"). Towards the upper left, another sign ("LOVE ONE/ ANOTHER") hangs on the wall undisturbed. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.


Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints 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.