Lot 667

"Poultry Life", Prang's American Chromos, Lemmens

Estimate: $150 - $250

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000
Included is "Poultry Life", an after painting by E. Lemmens. This is part of a series called “Prang's American Chromos”. Louis Prang, from Boston, was the most prolific and influential publisher of American chromolithographs. Born in Germany, Prang learned to print in color from his father, who was a calico printer. He immigrated to the United States in 1850 for political reasons. After a short-lived partnership as a chromolithographic printmaker with Julius Mayer (Prang & Mayer), Prang set up his own firm of L. Prang & Co. in 1860. His initial success came from his many small prints collected by members of the public and kept in albums. By the 1860s, Prang started to issue color-printed copies of famous paintings and launched his magazine, “Prang's Chromo: A Journal of Popular Art”. Prang's prints, which were "sold in all picture stores," were based on oils and watercolors and received high praises from the press and many influential people. Prang did more to create the market for chromolithographs in America than any other publisher, and his work also greatly shaped the output of other publishers around the country. These art prints became hugely successful, with about 800 of them eventually issued by Prang. He advertised them as, "PRANG'S AMERICAN CHROMOS. 'THE DEMOCRACY OF ART' . . . Our Chromo Prints are absolute FACSIMILES of the originals, in color, drawing, and spirit, and their price is so low that every home may enjoy the luxury of possessing a copy of works of art, which hitherto adorned only the parlors of the rich." The 19th century French painter, Theophile-Victor-Emile Lemmens, was born in 1821. He specialized in painting mythological subjects, genre subjects, hunting scenes, interiors with figures, animals, landscapes with animals, farmyard scenes, and waterscapes. This lithograph features a landscape scene with roosters and chickens, circa 1865. There is considerable wear to the floral gilt finish on the hand tooled, high relief wood frame. Measures 12" H x 9" W.