Abode of the Swans, from the series, Views in Central Park, New York, Part 2
Medium
Color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 in. × 2 3/8 in. (10.2 × 6.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick, 1947
Accession Number
47.91.25(26)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the serene "Abode of the Swans," a charming color lithograph from Louis Prang & Co.'s 1864 series *Views in Central Park, New York, Part 2*. This petite print (just 4 x 2 3/8 inches) captures an idyllic nook in the newly opened Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as New York City's first major public green space in 1858. Amid graceful trees and tranquil waters, swans glide peacefully, evoking the park's role as an urban oasis amid the city's rapid growth during the Civil War era. Louis Prang, a pioneer of chromolithography—the era's breakthrough techniqu...
About the Artist
Louis Prang & Co. · 1800–1950
Louis Prang & Co. was the Boston printing firm that introduced the Christmas card to the American public and elevated chromolithography to the level of a serious art form. Its founder, Louis Prang (1824–1909), was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland), where he trained as a cloth printer and dyer. After participating in revolutionary activity against the Prussian government, he fled first...