Across the Continent; "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way"

Size is small folio, approximately 12 inches by 10 inches. There is a mat, approximately 14.5 inches by 12.5, with a width of 1.5 inches at the two sides and top, and a width of 2 inches at the bottom. The print has been affixed with masking tape to the mat, which is in front of the image. Frances "Fanny" Flora Bond, later Palmer, was born inLeicester, England, on July 24, 1812. Palmer specialized inlandscapeand genre prints. Among her subjects were rural farm scenes, famous American ships and architecture, hunters, andWesternlandscapes. Though her work was mainly directed by the type of prints that Currier and Ives wanted to sell or determined by preexisting prints, her few original pieces received praise for their compositional fluidity and technical skill. Frances Flora Bond Palmer, was the first woman in the United States to make her living as a full-time artist. She was one of America's most prolific print artists of the 19th century. This particular work of hers, "Across the continent- Westward the course of Empire takes its way", is probably her best and most renowned work. A New York to San Francisco train leaving a (Western) frontier new born town, two horse-riding indians being spectators in the changing of the times in this scene, the vast uncovered and virgin territory that lies ahead, the loggers in the forest, the Public School, the telegraph posts, a convoy of covered wagons in the distance and so on make this an amazing testimony of that time when the American nation was recovering from an internal civil war and the colonizing of the West was at it's peak. Currier and Iveswas a successful Americanprintmakingfirm based in New York City from 1835 to 1907 headed first byNathaniel Currier, and later jointly with his partnerJames Merritt Ives. The prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and whitelithographsthat were hand colored. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and purchased inexpensively, and the firm called itself "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints" and advertised its lithographs as "colored engravings for the people".The firm adopted the name "Currier and Ives" in 1857. Currier In 1835, created a lithograph that illustrated a fire sweeping through New York City's business district. The print of the Merchant's Exchange sold thousands of copies in four days. Currier realized that there was a market for current news, so he turned out several more disaster prints and other inexpensive lithographs that illustrated local and national events. The name Currier & Ives first appeared in 1857, when Currier invited the company's bookkeeper and accountant James Merritt Ives (1824-95) to become his partner. The firm Currier and Ives described itself as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Prints". At least 7,500 lithographs were published in the firm's 72 years of operation. Artists produced two to three new images every week for 64 years (1834-1895),producing more than a million prints by hand-coloredlithography. For the original drawings, Currier & Ives employed or used the work of many celebrated artists of the day. Skilled artist lithographers such as John Cameron, Fanny Palmer, and others became known for their work and signed important pieces. Artists such as A. F. Tait became famous when their paintings were reproduced as lithographs. Currier and Ives was the most prolific and successful company of lithographers in the U.S. Its lithographs represented every phase of American life. Currier & Ives prints were among the household decorations considered appropriate for a proper home byCatharine Esther BeecherandHarriet Beecher Stowe, authors ofAmerican Woman's Home(1869). The original lithographs shared similar characteristics in inking and paper, and adhered to folio sizes. Their measurement did not include the title or borders. Currier used a cotton based, medium to heavy weight paper depending on the folio size for his prints until the late 1860s. From about 18.…