Governor Larrabee, Iowa, from "Governors, Arms, Etc." series (N133-2), issued by Duke Sons & Co.
ca. 1888
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet (unfolded): 2 3/4 × 4 5/16 in. (7 × 11 cm) Sheet (folded): 2 3/4 × 1 3/8 in. (7 × 3.5 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
Accession Number
63.350.207.133.67
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American ephemera with *Governor Larrabee,*, a charming commercial color lithograph from the "Govern, Arms, Etc." (N133-2), produced around 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co a prominent tobacco manufacturer. This pocket-sized print (unfolded: 2¾ × 4⅜ in.) captures Iowa's Governor William Larrabee in profile, likely flanked by patriotic symbols like horses and flags, evoking state pride during the Gilded Age—a time of rapid industrialization and national unity post-Civil War. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized mass printing by layering vibra...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...