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Flowers and Vegetables

Anton Carl Rahn

1804

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Romanticism Early 19th Century Floral

Dominant colour

Flowers and Vegetables is a 1804 by Anton Carl Rahn, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Anton Carl Rahn
When & what style?: 1804 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This lithograph shows bright flowers and fresh vegetables in a neat row. The colors pop against a plain white background. It’s a simple, clear image with no fancy tricks. This wasn’t just art—it was an ad. Made in the 1800s, it sold seeds for James Vick’s nursery in Rochester. The company printed these in color after 1871 to attract buyers. See this at The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

This lithograph served as an advertisement for the seeds sold at James Vick in Rochester, New York, a leading American nursery center in the latter half of the 19th century. An auxiliary business, the production of fruit and flower prints aided nurserymen and their travelling salesmen. At first the lithographs were hand colored, but in 1871 a local company began to print in color. Lithographs are made by drawing a design onto a stone with a greasy crayon; water adheres to the bare stone while the printing ink sticks to the greasy areas. The process was invented at the end of the 18th century…

Read the full account in the museum source.