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Thomas D. Smith

Needham, D.

Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.

Date

ca 1846

Type

lithograph

Medium

hand-colored (image production method/technique)

Department

NMAH

Institution

National Museum of American History

Object number

nmah_324617

Credit

Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection