Description
An example of this print was exhibited in Made in America: Printmaking 1760-1860: An Exhibition of Original Prints from the Collections of The Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, April – June, 1973, with the following text in the accompanying catalog:
Hailed by Harry Peters and other print historians as P.S. Duval’s masterpiece, Tamany Fish House displays a timeless serenity that has merited its popularity. Founded in 1803 as an eating club, the fish house was located on the Jersey shore of the Delaware River near Camden. The Duval view showed the modest clubhouse as it was remodeled in 1834. A popular attraction for visitors, it was visited by over 7,000 tourists in 1850 alone. The view shows a party being rowed ashore while others promenade on the pier and the beach.
Thomas M. Scott was a Philadelphia artist known for his cityscape views printed as lithographs by Peter S. Duval in the 1850s. These include Northern Liberties and Spring Garden Works (1852), Tamany Fish House, on the Pea Shore, R. Delaware (c. 1852), and Commissioners Hall, Northern Liberties, Phila. (1853). At Duval, Scott collaborated with the renowned Swiss-born lithographer Charles Conrad Kuchel (1820-1864).
Peter S. Duval, was “a pioneer in color printing” according to lithography scholar Harry S. Peters, who also asserted, “All in all, we can safely say that P.S. Duval and his group occupy one of the most important places in American lithography.” Over a period of almost 50 years, Duval and his collaborators produced high quality color prints of a range of subjects: portraits, fine art and genre paintings, military and naval subjects, views, scientific and natural history plates, government reports and advertisements. Born in France, Duval began working in Philadelphia in 1831 (in his early twenties) as a lithographer for Childs & Inman. That firm was succeeded by Duval’s partnership with George Lehman as Lehman & Duval. From 1839 to 1843, he collaborated with William W. Huddy as Huddy & Duval. He then established P.S. Duval, which became P.S Duval & Son when his son Stephen (born c. 1832) joined the company in 1858. Around 1871, the firm became Duval & Hunter in association with Thomas Hunter. Peter S. Duval retired in 1879. In 1893 the business ceased operations and was sold by the sheriff.
Full publication information: Drawn from nature by Tho’s M. Scott. P.S. Duvals’s Steam Lith. Press. Philad.
Condition: Print generally good with attractive pastel colors, noting the usual overall light toning, wear, handling. Light noticeable but unobtrusive dampstains and stray discoloration patches, particularly in lower river portion. Margins a bit short and edges with some chips and roughness. Apparently already professionally cleaned and restored as laid on Japanese paper. Early or original grain painted frame; with the usual overall light wear, abrasions, restorations.
References:
Groce, George C. and Wallace, David H. The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969. pp. 199-200.
Peters, Harry T. America on Stone. U.S.: Doubleday, Doran, 1931. pp. 163-168, p. 227.
“Scott, Thomas M.” The Library Company of Philadelphia. 2020. https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/digitool%3A79755?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=95030bf3605bd8f1661f&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0 (16 May 2021).
“Tamany Fish House, on the Pea Shore, R. Delaware.” The Library Company of Philadelphia. 2020. https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/digitool%3A65536 (16 May 2021).
