Lake Winnipiseogee, from Centre Harbor, New Hampshire

In the foreground of this grand view of the New Hampshire countryside, a boy leads an oxen-drawn cart filled with hay up a dirt road. Comprising the central part of the image, there is a scenic view of a village and a large lake beyond (with a few sailboats sailing). Beyond the far shore of the lake, mountains are in the distance.

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. Expansion led, in 1857, to a partnership with James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), the brother-in-law of Nathaniel's brother Charles. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes like this one, or rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.

When Frances "Fanny" Flora Bond Palmer moved to New York from England in 1844 she was thirty-two and an accomplished artist and printmaker. Initially, Fanny and her husband Seymour operated a small print-shop in lower Manhattan, similar to one they had run in Leicester (United Kingdom). In 1849, the couple moved to Brooklyn after the business closed. Nathaniel Currier began to buy print designs from Palmer around this time, and she became a staff artist for Currier & Ives after 1857. As a designer able to transfer images to lithographic stones for printing, Palmer produced more than 200 prints for the firm and today is regarded as a leading woman lithographer of the period. Although it was unusual for a woman to achieve such prominence in a printing firm, Palmer filled an important role for Currier and Ives firm, as she created the firm's best landscapes and most engaging scenes of daily life.