Wharf Rat, from The Comic Natural History of the Human Race
Medium
Color lithograph with watercolor and gum
Dimensions
sheet: 7 1/16 x 11 in. (18 x 27.9 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(8)
Tags
About this artwork
This Color lithograph with watercolor and gum by Henry Louis Stephens|Rosenthal|Samuel Robinson from 1851 exemplifies historical artistic production through its materials, techniques, and aesthetic approach. Created within specific cultural and historical contexts, works like this reflect both individual artistic vision and broader patterns of workshop practice, patron expectations, and prevailing aesthetic theories. The medium of Color lithograph with watercolor and gum required specialized kno...
Art Historical Context
"Wharf Rat" is a vibrant color lithograph with watercolor and gum from 1851, created by Henry Louis Stephens in collaboration with Rosenthal and Samuel. Part of the humorous series *The Comic Natural of the Human Race*, print belongs to a tradition of caricature art that playfully anthropomorphized human social types as animals. The title evokes the gritty world 19th-century Americanarves, likely satir a scruffy street urchin or dockside hustler akin to a cunning rat, reflecting the era's fascination with urban underclass characters amid rapid industrialization and immigration. Lithography, a...
About the Artist
Henry Louis Stephens|Rosenthal|Samuel Robinson (American|American|American) · 1800 |1824 |1840 –1900 |1882 |1900
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1824–1882 Bayonne, New Jersey|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania