By James S. Brust

The Ohio History Connection has a rich collection of works by Lilly Martin Spencer (1822-1902), one of the best-known female artists of the 19^th century. British born, she and her family immigrated to the United States in 1830. She went on to have a prolific career, best remembered now for her sentimental images and genre scenes of domestic life.[i]

Paintings by artists like Spencer were labor intensive, hence expensive. Few people in the 19^th century had the means to purchase original paintings. To achieve widespread popularity, an artist’s images had to be reproduced as prints --- lithographs or engravings --- which could be sold at more affordable prices. It is well known that Lilly Martin Spencer’s work became popular through reproduction as prints. Those vintage 19^th century prints were less expensive than paintings, but their cost was not insignificant. They are now highly sought after.

What has generally gone unnoticed, though, is the further proliferation of Lilly Martin Spencer’s images, if not her name, on small photographs. Coming into the 1860s, popular visual culture was dramatically changed by the introduction of carte de visite (CDV) photographs, so called because they were the size of calling or visiting cards. In the earliest years of photography in this country, starting in 1839, available processes produced one-of-a-kind images by coating light sensitive chemicals on to plates of silvered copper (daguerreotypes), glass (ambrotypes), or lacquered iron (tintypes).

To produce cartes de visite, photographers used cameras that had four or more lenses which could record the same image multiple times on the same glass plate negative, which could in turn be contact printed onto light sensitive paper. The resulting small images were trimmed and mounted on 4 x 2 ½ inch cards (10.2 x 6.6 cm.) --- an economical process that allowed people of modest means to have their pictures taken and receive multiple copies for family and friends. Their popularity quickly led to the production of special CDV albums to house them. To fill extra slots in those albums not occupied by personal portraits, enterprising photographers offered “filler” CDVs --- pictures of important people, famous places, and works of art.[ii] In that era of loose copyright laws, popular prints were often photographed on to CDVs, then issued anonymously since they were being used without permission. The artist’s name was usually omitted. Such CDVs were inexpensive, perhaps ten cents or less, or even free if given away by merchants as gifts or premiums. Many people could see or own them.

Shake Hands? (fig. 4), an 1854 oil painting by Lilly Martin Spencer, is a proud possession of the Ohio History Connection. It shows a smiling woman at work in the kitchen, pausing to extend her dough covered hand to the visitor/viewer. Lilly Martin Spencer was known for positive depictions of domestic work such as this one. This image was later reproduced on two different prints. One was a lithograph, also issued in 1854 (fig. 5) and the other an engraving produced later (fig. 6). This was the typical progression that allowed the image to circulate more widely, earn additional income, and make the artist’s name better known. The fact that two different prints of this image were produced is an indication of its popularity, and Spencer is given credit as the artist on both. Figure 7 is a carte de visite photograph of the engraving, issued by J. Gurney & Son, a well-known New York City photographic gallery, and carried it their mark on the reverse. But no credit is given to the artist, Lilly Martin Spencer, nor the maker of the print that was copied, and it is not known what arrangement, if any, existed between them and Gurney. Still, it allowed Spencer’s image to be seen by a wider audience.

Fruit of Temptation (fig. 8) is an 1857 lithograph at the Ohio History Connection, done after a painting by Lilly Martin Spencer. The whereabouts of the original oil painting are unknown, so the image lives on in the print, and in CDV photographs (fig. 9). This one, with original hand tinting, is a particularly nice example. But as was typical, since the image was almost certainly used without permission, it is completely anonymous with no wording written or printed on either side of the mount.

The Little Navigator (fig. 10) is an 1854 lithograph in the Ohio History Connection. As in the previous example, the original oil painting by Lilly Martin Spencer is unlocated. But this image appears to have been very popular, judging by the frequency with which it appears on vintage CDVs. The hand tinted example in Figure 11 appears to have been photographed directly from the print in Figure 10. I have over ten different vintage CDVs of this image in my own collection, and as I write this (on January 14, 2025) there is at least one available on eBay. Sadly for Mrs. Spencer, while some have a preprinted title, they are otherwise anonymous. None carries her name. But they made her art available to many more people than the print alone could have.

Bo-Peep (fig. 12) is yet another lithograph in the Ohio History Connection done after a Lilly Martin Spencer painting. There is evidence that she painted two versions but neither can now be located.[iii] As we saw with The Little Navigator, this image became very popular on CDVs --- I have over half a dozen examples, and another is currently available on eBay as well. An example is shown in Figure 13, likely photographed from the print. All are anonymous; none carry Mrs. Spencer’s name.

In the case of Bo-Peep, it was not just carte de visite photographs that spread the image. Once filler CDVs became popular in the early 1860s, lithography firms began to issue album cards in the same 4 by 2 ½ inch size, which could fit into standard CDV albums or specially designed folders. Figure 14 is a lithographed album card from Boston lithographer J.H. Bufford’s Parlor Gems series.[iv] According to Bufford’s own advertising, these were an attempt to show art of a higher aesthetic quality in this small format. Sadly, perhaps because of their higher cost, Parlor Gems were not successful and are rare today. But Lilly Martin Spencer’s Bo-Peep was among them, though, as usual, without her name.

Finally, a most unusual rarity, a hand-colored tintype photograph of Bo-Peep (fig. 15). It appears to have been photographed from a framed impression of the Lafosse lithograph, though some of the details may have been altered by the coloring, and the wording in the lower margin is not visible. Since an object like this tintype could not be made in multiples to sell, it was probably not a commercial endeavor. It is quite beautiful. Perhaps it was made as a miniature or portable version for someone with a special attachment to the print, which may have reminded them of their own child. That is just speculation, but there can be no doubt that the appeal of Lilly Martin Spencer’s ultra-charming image was the motivation behind all these print and photographic reproductions of Bo-Peep.[v]

[i] A detailed recounting of Lilly Martin Spencer’s career is beyond the scope of this brief blog. My information came from the following sources: Robin Bolton-Smith and William H. Truettner, Lilly Martin Spencer: The Joys of Sentiment (Washington D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973); and Laura Groves Napolitano, “’Equally Clever and Humourous’: Lilly Martin Spencer’s Reassuring Lithographs of Children,” Imprint, the Journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society, 34:2 (Autumn 2009), 18-33.

[ii] James S. Brust, “Nineteenth-Century Historical and Popular Prints Reproduced on Vintage Carte de Visite Photographs,” Imprint, the Journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society, 44 (Spring 2019), 24-54.

[iii] Bolton-Smith and Truettner, 125-126.

[iv] James S. Brust and Lauren B. Hewes, “J.H. Bufford’s Parlor Gems,” Imprint, the Journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society, 46:2 (Autumn 2021), 18-29.

[v] NOTE: The portion of this blog on Bo-Peep first appeared as an article in the American Historical Print Collectors Society News Letter (47:3, Winter 2023, 6-7) and is used with permission.

Fig. 1. This Little Pig Went to Market. Oil on composition board by Lilly Martin Spencer, 1857. 71 cm x 44.5 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 19178.

Fig. 2. Alice Danner Jones. Albumen silver carte de visite photograph. Anonymous, circa 1874. 11 cm x 7 cm. Ohio History Connection, SC 1115.

Fig. 3. Ulysses S. Grant. Albumen silver carte de visite photograph. Nichols & Howard Photographers, 1864-1865. Ohio History Connection, Sherman Family Photographs Collection, P42 and AL00540.

Fig. 4. Shake Hands? Oil on canvas by Lilly Martin Spencer, 1854. 110 cm x 97 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 24655.

Fig. 5. Shake Hands? Hand colored lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Lafosse after Lilly Martin Spencer. Published by William Schaus, New York, 1854. 75 cm x 58 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 35404.

Fig. 6. Shake Hands? Engraving by Rogers & Phillibrown after Lilly Martin Spencer. Printed by H. Peters, New York, circa 1865-1885. 41.5 cm x 31.5 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 71829.

Fig. 7. Shake Hands. Albumen silver carte de visite photograph with manuscript title on the reverse. Issued by J. Gurney & Son, New York, circa 1860s. 10.2 cm x 6.6 cm. Collection of the author.

Fig. 8. Fruit of Temptation. Hand colored lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Lafosse after Lilly Martin Spencer. Published by Goupil & Cie, USA, 1857. 62 cm x 51 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 35401.

Fig. 9.  [Fruit of Temptation.] Anonymous hand-tinted albumen silver carte de visite photograph, circa 1860s. 10.2 cm x 6.6 cm. Collection of the author.

Fig. 10. The Little Navigator. Hand colored lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Lafosse after Lilly Martin Spencer. Published by William Schaus, New York, 1854. 71 cm x 58 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 84277.

Fig. 11. The Little Navigator. Anonymous hand-tinted albumen silver carte de visite photograph, circa 1860s. 10.2 cm x 6.6 cm. This CDV was photographed from the Lafosse lithograph in Figure 10, and the title of the print is visible in the photograph. Collection of the author.

Fig. 12. Bo-Peep. Hand colored lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Lafosse after Lilly Martin Spencer. Printed by Francois DeLarue, Paris. Published by William Schaus, 619 Broadway, New York, 1859. 75 cm x 58 cm. Ohio History Connection, H 35402.

Fig. 13. Bo-Peep. Anonymous albumen silver carte de visite photograph, circa 1860s. 10.2 cm x 6.6 cm. Collection of the author.

Fig. 14. Bo-Peep. Two stone chromolithographed album card by J. H. Bufford, Boston, circa 1860s. 10.2 cm x 6.6 cm. Collection of the author.

Fig. 15. [Bo-Peep.] Anonymous hand tinted sixth plate tintype, circa 1860s. 7.9 cm x 6.7 cm. The image is reversed in the tintype. Collection of the author.

Dr. James Brust, a physician in San Pedro, California, is an independent historian specializing in 19th century popular prints and photographs. He is vice president of the American Historical Print Collectors Society. He is especially interested in carte de visite photographs as a guide to popular visual culture in the 1860s and 1870s.