W. Forrest after F. E. Church 
The Great Fall Niagara

Hand tinted original steel engraving, Proof copy, published by M.Knoedler & Son New York 1875. 
Image 17 1/8 x 21 3/4" (43.5 x 55.2 cm) Double museum matted and gilt line, glazed, black lacquer and gilt frame 28 x 38 1/4"
 Ref.TC2(170)/ENN/o.ands >DALN  SOLD   PRICE CODE  E

In the 19th century, many American artists attempted to capture the power and beauty of Niagara Falls. Widely considered the nation's greatest natural wonder, Church's majestic image reveals the vista from the Canadian shore, based on oil and pencil sketches he had made during several visits to the site in 1856. He was the first to render the spectacle on such a grand scale, with such fine detail, naturalism, and immediacy. He heightened the illusion of reality by selecting a non-traditional format of image with a width twice as wide as its height to convey the panoramic expanse of the scene. Moreover, he pushed the plane of the falls nearest the viewer significantly downward to reveal more of the far side as well as the dramatic rush of water. Most notably, he eliminated any suggestion of a foreground, allowing the viewer to experience the scene as if precariously positioned on the brink of the falls. Forrest's rendering retains the magnificence and drama of the panorama, here subtly hand tinted and presented in an appropriate frame to museum standard.

Frederic Edwin Church 1826 - 1900 was the most significant successor of Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School. Church's landscapes represented unsullied nature as an embodiment of his faith in the God-given strength and mission of the New World, "America's sacred destiny," as he put it.  

Joseph Ives Pease after
Richard H. Pease

FORT NIAGARA TAKEN FROM THE BRITISH SIDE OF THE RIVER AT NEWARK
1814

SCARCE, Uncoloured, Aquatint on steel (as issued) Platemark 120 x 190mm.
Ref RPH 15(193)/AL/e.anad> DLN  SOLD    PRICE CODE A

Depicting Old Fort Niagara (New York) on a peninsula at the mouth of the Niagara River in Lake Ontario. Taken from the British side of the river at Newark (Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario) during the war of 1812. Fort Niagara being opposite the British Fort George. This image published by Weed, Parsons & Co Albany NY ca. 1850 drawn by Joseph Ives Pease 1809-1883 engraved in Aquatint by Richard H. Pease 1813-1869 originally engraved by William Strickland 1784-1854 and published in Port Folio Magazine, Philadelphia, October 1814
Fort Niagara was an important American post near the outlet of the Niagara River into Lake Ontario. During the early days of the war, it was involved in several exchanges of artillery fire against the British at Fort George on the other side of the river.
On 27 May 1813, the Americans won the Battle of Fort George. This left Fort George in their hands, and they briefly captured the entire Niagara peninsula, but they were then driven back to a narrow enclave around Fort George. In late 1813 in the face of British advance from Burlington Heights Brig Gen George Maclure of the New York militia was forced to abandon the US possession of Fort George having torched the nearby village of Newark (Niagara) the first capital of Upper Canada, and part of Queenstown and retreat across the Niagara river to Fort Niagara which was taken by the British 19 December 1813.

W.H. Simmons after G.H. Boughton
Too Near the War-Path

First Edition Impression 'Proof' with blind stamp of Printsellers Association (Bottom Left)  Original un-lettered mixed-media etching & engraving, Museum matted, ornate gilt-wood and gesso frame.  Image size 25 x 16 7/8" (63.5 x 42.8cm.) Frame 41 3/4 x 32 1/4")
Published G.H. Boughton, M. Knoedler & Goupil Washington 1875
 Ref.TC1(170)/ENN /o.ands >DNLN  SOLD   PRICE CODE D

Printed in the La Chine Colée  method, this fine image depicts a frontiersman in buckskins and coon-skin cap holding a cocked musket.  Together with his frightened sweetheart, who is holding a bonnet, the pair are taking cover behind the trunk of a large pine tree standing in the forest. In the background North American Indians, following a warpath, may be seen.
William Henry Simmons's "Too Near the War-Path" is an original 19th century mixed method engraving based upon a design by the late nineteenth century genre painter, George Henry Boughton. This 'Proof' impression is printed upon fine china paper which has been pressed onto a larger sheet of white wove paper and with full margins as published by the American firm, Knoedler & Company in New York in 1875. "Too Near the War-Path" portrays the dangerous existence of early American settlers and is an important example of Victorian era engraving created by the British artist, William Henry Simmons. This is a fine unlettered poof copy bearing the stamp of the Printsellers Association. Handsomely presented in museum quality matt and gilt line, ornate gilt-wood & gesso frame.

 

George Henry Boughton (Norwich, England, 1833 - London, 1905) One of the most popular genre painters of the late nineteenth century, Boughton received his artistic education in Paris. He then initially lived and worked in New York City and was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1871. Shortly thereafter, he permanently moved to London, becoming an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1879 and an Academician in 1896. He was thus one of the few artists of his time to receive honours from the most prestigious associations in both America and Britain. Although George Henry Boughton was an accomplished landscape artist his fame rested mostly upon figure studies and genre depictions. Too Near the War-Path portrays the dangerous existence of early American settlers and is typical of his fine work in this area.

 Simmons, William Henry (London, 1811 - 1882)  Little is known of the private life of William Henry Simmons although he was one of the finest Victorian engravers in the mixed style and produced a vast body of work. He studied under William Finden, the line engraver, but later abandoned line engraving for mixed mezzotint and became one of the foremost exponents of this style." * The name of William Henry Simmons is found on many of the most famous examples of large, Victorian era engravings. His first published engraving bears the date of 1837. From that time until the year of his death (1882),  Simmons was commissioned to create engravings after the designs of such famous contemporary artists as Sir Edward Landseer, Sir John Millais, Thomas Faed, W. P. Frith, Holman Hunt, Richard Ansdell, Rosa Bonheur and others. William Henry Simmons was a regular participant at the Royal Academy from 1857 to 1882. Too Near the War-Path is a large and brilliant example of William Henry Simmons's mixed method style of engraving. Within this impressive plate one finds evidence of stippling, mezzotinting, etching and engraving, combining to create superb textures and tonal values.

Flirtation behind the wheel

Photogravure by Goupil after Henry Bacon 1880. Published by Knoedler & Co New York 1881 glazed natural wood with gilt lip frame 16 1/2 x 10 3/4 inc. letters Frame 21 x 15 1/2”
Ref. 124 AR8/RN/ >SL   PRICE CODE  A

Romance is alive and well in a heavy swell, as an officer of the Labrador tries his luck at chatting up a fashionable, if somewhat coy, American belle of the 1880's. Fine costume and deck detail.

Nathaniel Currier
The Lovers Walk
1849

SCARCE Hand-Coloured Stone lithograph, some age creasing and border tears, double museum matted gilt-wood and gesso frame.
12 1/4 x 8 1/2" Including letters (31.1 x 21.6 cm.) Frame: 19 1/4 x 15 3/4" 
 Ref. JS2 (169)/DNN/ s.ands > LNN  SOLD   PRICE CODE C

This is an early 1849 image published by Currier from his 152 Nassau St. Cor. of Spruce New York address, prior to his partnership with Ives.

Currier & Ives: a catalogue raisonné / compiled by Gale Research. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, c1983, no. 4142