Frances Flora Bond (Fanny) Palmer
British, 1812-1876
"It is likely that during the latter half of the nineteenth
century more pictures by Mrs. Fanny Palmer decorated the homes of
ordinary Americans than those of any other artist, dead or alive,"
wrote
Ewell L. Newman, a Currier & Ives specialist. In addition, her
work has probably appeared on millions of books, calendars, and greeting
cards depicting the idyllic world of these quintessentially American
printmakers. Yet she has been largely ignored by historians, even
when they discuss her best-known work, Across the Continent,
Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way, a popular print
extolling the idea
of American progress. It is estimated she drew over 200 scenes for
Currier & Ives, but she did not always sign her work; when she
did she usually identified herself only as F. F. Palmer. Sometimes,
as in this example, she makes it clear that she was responsible
for both the original artwork and the print: "From Nature and
On [Lithographic] Stone by F. F. Palmer."
Trout Fishing
Color lithograph
New York: Published by N. Currier, 1852
Graphic Arts Division
