View of Madison, the Capital of Wisconsin: Taken from the Water Cure, South Side of Lake Menona

This picturesque print features an early panoramic view of Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, seen across Lake Monona with Lake Mendota in the left distance. In the foreground, four spectators enjoy the vista from the rooftop of the Lakeside Water Cure, a healing resort spa facility that was completed in August 1855 in the midst of a fifty-acre oak grove on the southern shore of Lake Monona. This print celebrates the opening of this new four-story, steam-heated main building, which could accommodate eighty patients. By 1861, however, the institution was struggling financially; by 1866, it was refurbished and renamed Lakeside House. After Lakeside House burned down in 1877, it was not rebuilt; today the site is part of Madison's Olin Park.

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 American life and its history. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. Charles, a lithographer himself, also ran a separate business of his own, which produced almost one hundred prints, including this one. It was Charles who introduced his brother to James Merritt Ives, who eventually became Nathaniel's business partner in 1857, thereby establishing the celebrated firm of Currier & Ives. For decades thereafter, people eagerly acquired the firm's lithographs, such as those 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.