Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
NPG.78.230
Tags
Art Historical Context
This wood engraving portrait, titled *Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.*, captures the renowned 19th-century American polymath in a moment of domestic familiarity, surrounded by everyday objects like a plate, cup, chair, and table—evoking the breakfast-table conversations for which he was famous. Created in 1862 by the Bobbett & Hooper Wood Engraving Co., a New York firm active from around 1855 to 1870, the print exemplifies the precision and detail of wood engraving, a technique that allowed for high-quality reproductions in magazines and books during the Civil War era. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (...