The Old Print Shop

Cairo. Mouth of the Ohio. Cairo an der Mundung des Ohio.

  • ARTIST: Henry Lewis

  • PUBLISHER: Lith. Jnst. Arnz & Co. Dusseldorf.

  • MEDIUM: Multi-stone lithograph,

    DATE: 1854-57.

  • EDITION SIZE: 5 3/8 x 7 3/4" (136 x 195 mm) plus title and margins.

  • DESCRIPTION: From DAS ILLUSTRIERTE MISSISSIPPITHAL (The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated). In the late 1840's Henry Lewis traveled the length of the Mississippi and with the assistance of other artists assembled a collection of sketches detailing scenery of the entire river. Based on these drawings, Lewis proceeded to paint a panorama on a continuous length of canvas which would be moved and viewed through a frame. In the fall of 1848, the completed piece (hundreds and hundreds of feet in length), began its tour of American cities. A European tour followed and while in Dusseldorf, in 1853, Lewis teamed up with the publisher Heinrich Arnz to redo the sketches as lithographs illustrating a book on Mississippi scenery. While production was sporadic and relatively unprofitable, the resulting seventy-eight lithographs provide a early and remarkably complete record of the Mississippi River. This town is located in Illinois where the river forms a tri-state border with Missouri and Kentucky.

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Good condition and color.

  • REFERENCE: