The Music Temple, 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(32)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the nascent greenery of 1860s New York with *The Music Temple, from the series, Views in Park, New York, Part 2*, a delicate color lithograph produced by Prang & Co. in 1864. Just six years after Central Park's in 1858, this tiny print (measuring a mere 4 × 2⅜ inches) captures the park's early allure as Manhattan's verdant escape from urban bustle. Prang, a pioneer of chromolithography—the era's breakthrough technique for vibrant, affordable color printing—rendered the picturesque Music Temple, a fanciful pavilion alive with men and women enjoying leisurely moments amid classical arc...
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...