Vampyre, from The Comic Natural History of the Human Race
Medium
Color lithograph with watercolor and gum
Dimensions
sheet: 7 1/16 x 10 13/16 in. (18 x 27.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1964
Accession Number
64.629.47(17)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This color lithograph from 1851 captures the playful spirit of mid-nineteenth-century American satire through its depiction of a “Vampyre” in *The Comic Natural History of the Human Race*. Created by Samuel Robinson, Henry Louis Stephens, and Rosenthal, the print employs the relatively new technique of color lithography, later enhanced with watercolor and gum arabic, to produce a vivid, affordable image suited for wide distribution. Such illustrated volumes humorously classified human “types” in the manner of natural history books, turning social observation into lighthearted caricature. In t...
About the Artist
Samuel Robinson|Henry Louis Stephens|Rosenthal (American|American|American) · 1800 |1824 |1840 –1900 |1882 |1900
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1824–1882 Bayonne, New Jersey|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania