Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Lithographic Artist

One of the pictures from above, Wooding Up on the Mississippi, was an illustration of a terrible disaster, the explosion of a Mississippi steamboat, The Princess. Since this is on another page, I'll recopy the print.

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https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.6477.html?artobj_artistId=6477&pageNumber=1#works

TERRIBLE DISASTER. EXPLOSION OF THE MISSISSIPPI STEAMER PRINCESS -- 75 TO 100 PERSONS KILLED -- 100 WOUNDED -- NAMES OF LIST, MISSING AND INJURED.

A telegram from New Orleans, published on the 1st instant, briefly announced the explosion of the steamer Princess on the Mississippi, and a dreadful loss of life. The New Orleans papers give full particulars of the disaster. The names of the killed had not been fully ascertained, but it is supposed that from seventy-five to one hundred lives were lost. Upwards of one hundred persons were wounded. The Princess was about four years old, a first-class packet, plying between New Orleans and Vicksburg. She was put in thorough repair last summer, at a cost of $30,000. On Sunday morning, Feb. 27, at about 10 o'clock, while on her way to New Orleans, her boilers exploded. Out of four hundred passengers on board, over two hundred were killed or injured. The Picayune says that four of the large, powerful boilers exploded at once, driving aft, clearing all before them, and the whole upper cabin, state rooms, hurricane deck and all, fell in almost immediately, and in a few moments the flames burst forth. The shock was so sudden and so tremendous, so utterly unlooked for, as apparently to have bewildered the bravest and most experienced men.

The New York Times, New York, 1859-03-10. Researched and transcribed by Stu Beitler.


 
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Fanny Palmer had mastered the techniques of drawing, perspective and watercolors at Mary Linwood's academy for girls in her birthplace in Leicester, England, long before she became a prolific artist for Currier & Ives.
I was thinking of commenting about her mastery of perspective when I came across this text!
 
For her lithographs on hunters and hunting, Fanny Palmer often reproduced scenes from her on site views. She would travel with her husband and friends to Long Island on hunting trips. The hunting lithographs are considered especially well-done.

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These are all very good but I love the hunting scenes. Good hunting dogs working together and with their masters are a sight to see! In the lower piece, I see the gentlemen are hunting woodcock--sometimes known as timber doodles. I can't make out the birds in the upper scene.
 
Thanks, James N. You beat me to explaining the role of the other artists and colorists. But how exciting that you own period lithographs.

The Civil War Women Blog has a lengthy description of the process as you've described. They note that Fanny Palmer or another senior artist would produce a model print to follow. The girls who added color to the prints were mostly young German immigrants who'd received some kind of artistic training apart from their work for Currier and Ives. In times where there was a particular rush, like getting out a lithograph of a current battle scene, some "less-skilled," backup colorists would stencil in washes over broad areas of the print. To finalize the process, the blog notes, "Details were then added to these washes by the regular girls, who would more carefully paint the prominent figures and add touches of bright color to battle flags, bleeding wounds and muzzle blasts."

In case anyone following this thread missed these, here are links showing some of my N. Currier, Currier & Ives, Kellogg, and J. Baillie prints:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/ha...post-civil-war-era.143092/page-2#post-1755648
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/maj-gen-ulysses-s-grant-as-imagined-in-1862.143169/

In the cases of the prints I own Flight of the Mexican Army... and Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant I believe both to have been examples of being rushed into print for news purposes, as I explain in the Grant thread.


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These are all very good but I love the hunting scenes. Good hunting dogs working together and with their masters are a sight to see! In the lower piece, I see the gentlemen are hunting woodcock--sometimes known as timber doodles. I can't make out the birds in the upper scene.

I like the hunting scenes as well, @Patrick H, as they seem very focused
. Always enjoy your comments on artwork. Here's another for you.

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Morning in the Woods

And another of hunters.

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Morning in the Woods, 1865


 
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Ok, now that is distracting. Timber doodles? That's a little delightful, never heard woodcock called ' timber doodle '.
It's true! Odd little migratory birds, but they are highly sought after by some hunters. I can't comment from personal experience.
 
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