Proof of one side of a New York Merchants Banking Company 100 Dollar Bill
Medium
Engraving; proof
Dimensions
image: 3 1/8 x 7 5/16 in. (8 x 18.5 cm) sheet: 3 5/16 x 9 1/2 in. (8.4 x 24.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Joseph Veach Noble, 2002
Accession Number
2002.333.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This engraving serves as a proof for one side of a $100 banknote issued by the New York Merchants Banking Company between 1824 and 1827. In the early nineteenth century, before the United States had a uniform national currency, individual banks produced their own paper money, making skilled engraving essential to deter counterfeiting. The detailed design, created by Asher B. Durand in collaboration with his brother Cyrus Durand and their firm, reflects the period’s blend of commercial necessity and artistic craftsmanship. Asher Brown Durand, later celebrated as a leading figure of the Hudson ...
About the Artist
Asher Brown Durand|A. B. & C. Durand & Company|Cyrus Durand · 1796–1886
Was a principal member of the Hudson River School. American artist; associated with the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Comment on works: Portraits