In Memory–St. Paul's Chapel, New York

Memorial prints, usually featuring a funerary urn on a plinth beside a willow tree, with one or more mourners nearby, were popular from the 1820s to about 1850. Nathaniel Currier was among the lithography printers who offered his customers a variety of memorial prints. Several of these had blank plinths (as this one does), so that the print could later be personalized by the purchaser, who could add the deceased's name.

n a churchyard beneath a blue sky, a man, woman and child (at right)-- all dressed in black mourning clothes-- look at a white memorial monument (at left) topped by a flaming urn. The boy points his left hand towards the plinth, which is blank after the inscription "IN/ MEMORY OF"; weeds grow along the bottom of the monument. The gray brick church of St. Paul's (with dark gray windows) is in the right background; a large willow tree (its green leaves are delineated) is in left background. A small rose bush with three red roses is at the lower right.

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.