The Image Breaker
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
- 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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