A Midnight Race on the Mississippi

1860

Frances Flora Bond Palmer

Artist, American, born England, 1812 - 1876

Currier and Ives

Printer, 1857 - 1907

Currier and Ives

Publisher, 1857 - 1907

H. D. Manning

Artist After, American, active 19th century

Frances Flora Bond Palmer

Attributed to

Fire burps out the top of a pair of smokestacks on two steamboats that power down a wide river at night in this color lithograph. Black smoke billows back from the flames, and steam hisses from smaller smokestacks at the back of the boats. The boat to our left is the Natchez, and writing around its name reads, “Vicksburg, Natchez and New Orleans Mail Line.” The other boat is the Eclipse. People line the decks of both as the boats race under the moonlit sky. A blanket of gray clouds breaks in front of the luminous moon. Printed text below the image reads, “A MIDNIGHT RACE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.” Tiny text printed under the lower left corner of the image reads, “F.F. PALMER DEL. FROM A SKETCH BY H.D. MANNING OF THE NATCHEZ” and “LITH. OF CURRIER & IVES, N.Y.” in the lower right.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Donald and Nancy deLaski Fund

  • Dimensions

    image: 46.04 x 71.12 cm (18 1/8 x 28 in.)
    sheet: 55.88 x 81.28 cm (22 x 32 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2012.16.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Reilly 1984, no. 4476


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(The Old Print Shop, New York); purchased 2012 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2016

  • Three Centuries of American Prints: from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Gallery in Prague, Prague 1; Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 2016 - 2017, no. 31.

Bibliography

1970

  • Conningham, Frederic A. Currier and Ives Prints: An Illustrated Check List. New York: Crown Publishers, 1970, p. 180, no. 4116.

1984

  • Reilly, Bernard F., Jr. Currier & Ives, A Catalogue Raisonné: A Comprehensive Catalogue of the Lithographs of Nathaniel Currier, James Merrit Ives and Charles Currier, including Ephemera Associated with the Firm, 1834-1907, volume 1. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1984, pp. 437, 458, no. 4476.

Inscriptions

Text at bottom on stone:
F.F. Palmer Del. From a Sketch by H.D. Manning of the Natchez / Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1860, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of N.Y. / A Midnight Race on the Mississippi. / New York, Published by Currier & Ives 157 Nassau St.

Wikidata ID

Q76560713


You may be interested in

Loading Results