The Tower, 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(36)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling heart of 19th-century New York *The Tower, from the series, Views Central Park, New York, Part 2*, a delicate color lithograph produced by Louis Prang & Co in 1864. This petite print (just 4 × 2⅜ inches) captures a striking tower adorned with flags, likely one of Central Park's early structures amid its nascent landscapes. Prang, a German-born innovator who established his Boston firm in the 1860s, specialized in chromolithography—a revolutionary technique layering colored inks to mimic paintings with vibrant precision and affordability. Created during the Civil War era...
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...