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The Image Breaker

1851
Not on view
Based on an 1847 painting by the German-American artist Leutze, this work dramatizes religious differences that divided families during the English Civil War. A father has interrupted the Catholic devotions of his daughter and prepares to smash devotional objects on a small altar. The print was published by the American Art-Union, a New York institution that boasted nearly nineteen thousand subscribers at its height in 1849-50. For an annual fee of five dollars, each member received a large, finely engraved, print and was entered in a lottery to win original artworks which were exhibited at the Art-Union's Free Gallery. Aimed at educating the public about contemporary American art, the group's distribution network reached members in every state. This contributed to the creation of a national market for landscapes and genre paintings. The system flourished for a limited period, however, with no lottery taking place in 1851, the year that the Art-Union issued this work as part of a set of small engravings titled "Gallery of American Art, No. I."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Image Breaker
  • Series/Portfolio: Gallery of American Art, No. I
  • Engraver: Alfred Jones (American, Liverpool, England 1819–1900 New York)
  • Artist: After Emanuel Leutze (American, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1816–1868 Washington, D.C.)
  • Publisher: American Art-Union, New York (1838–51)
  • Printer: J. Dalton (American, active 1840–53)
  • Date: 1851
  • Medium: Etching, engraving and stipple on steel
  • Dimensions: plate: 13 13/16 x 11 1/4 in. (35.1 x 28.5 cm)
    sheet: 18 7/16 x 14 3/8 in. (46.8 x 36.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1993
  • Object Number: 1993.1083(3)
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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