SIX GILTWOOD FRAMED AMERICAN CLARISSA M. BADGER HANDCOLORED BOTANICAL LITHOGRAPHS,Mid-late 19th Century. Identically framed of the period lithographs with handcoloring, after Clarissa M. Badger, illustrating various garden flowers. All have handlined french mats, and giltwood frames.
'Clarissa Munger Badger (1806–1889) was a mid 19th century American botanical illustrator best known for three volumes of flower paintings accompanied by poetry. In 1848, Clarissa Munger Badger privately published A Forget-Me-Not: Flowers from Nature with Selected Poetry under the name C. M. Badger. This was a volume of poetry by William Cullen Bryant, Lydia Sigourney, Mary Howitt, and others illustrated with thirteen of her flower paintings. This may have provided a model for her 1859 book Wild Flowers Drawn and Colored from Nature (informally known as The Wild Flowers of America), which was illustrated with twenty-two plates of individual common flowers such as trailing arbutus, purple violet, cardinal flower, and harebell. It also included poems, thought in this case to have been written by Badger herself, together with an introductory poem by Sigourney.The poet Emily Dickinson owned a copy of this book. The plates were widely reproduced at the time, contributing to Badger's reputation as a top-rank botanical artist.
Clarissa's third book, Floral Belles from the Green-House and Garden, was published in 1867 with sixteen hand-colored lithographic plates typically showing two or three flowers in clusters or bouquets. As with her first book, the flower paintings were accompanied by poetry, in this case poems about the flowers depicted.' - Framed: 22 3/4" high x 19 5/8" wide. Estimate $300-400
Minor toning and foxing associated with age. Giltwood frames all in good condition. Not examined out of frame, though framing is modern and is likely archival.
