A fantastic pair of companion lithographs created by artist Christopher Kimmel. Kimmel was an engraver, lithographer and printer in New York City during the third quarter of the 19th century. He was born in Germany around 1830 and began working in New York in 1850. From 1853 to at least 1862, he published prints with British-born engraver Samuel Capewell as Capewell & Kimmel, producing primarily portrait and historical engravings. From 1865 to 1871, he partnered with Thomas Forster as Kimmel & Forster. They mainly produced engravings, though they did publish some lithographs including Birds-Eye View of Washington, D.C. and Environs, 1865, and the pair listed here. The same New York firm issued hundreds of illustrated patriotic envelopes during the Civil War.

1.  “The Outbreak of the Rebellion in the United States” measures 28x28”, housed in a frame measuring 35x29”.  New York : Published by Kimmel & Forster, 254 & 265 Canal St, c1865.

Condition: Small tear at top margin, 1 ½”. Overall age discoloration with slight water staining at bottom. Left border with small rub mark of surface. Frame has some very minor chipping in plaster border.

Summary: A grand allegory of the Civil War in America, harshly critical of the Buchanan administration, Jefferson Davis, and the Confederacy. In the center stands Liberty, wearing a Phrygian cap and a laurel wreath. She is flanked by the figures of Justice (unblindfolded, holding a sword and scales) and Abraham Lincoln. Principal figures (from left to right) are: Confederate president Jefferson Davis (beneath a palm tree about whose trunk winds a poisonous snake), James Buchanan (asleep), his secretary of war John B. Floyd, who was accused of misappropriation of government funds (raking coins into a bag), Justice, Columbia, Lincoln, Gen. Winfield Scott (in military uniform), and various figures exemplifying the generosity and suffering of the Northern citizenry. The left foreground is filled with Confederate soldiers, some of them engaged in tearing the Union flag from the hands of other soldiers. In the background are scenes of war. In contrast, on the right, the sun rises over mountains in the distance beyond a prosperous countryside.

2.  “The End of the Rebellion” also measures 28x28”, with an identical frame as the first, also measuring 35x29”.  New York: Published by Kimmel & Forster, 254 & 256 Canal St., New York, c1866.

Condition: Some minor light age discoloration. Small 1” tear on right margin edge.

Summary: A sequel to Kimmel's grand image "The Outbreak of the Rebellion in the United States" (no. 1865-19), issued the year before. The artist depicts in symbolic terms the downfall of the Confederacy. Columbia, crowned with stars, and Liberty, wearing a Phrygian cap and holding an American flag, stand on a pedestal in the center. On the pedestal are carved the likenesses of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In front of the pedestal Justice, armed with sword and scales, leads a charge of Union troops toward the right. Immediately behind Justice stands President Andrew Johnson, and behind him Union generals Butler, Grant, and Sherman are visible. A black soldier stands in the foreground and a freed slave kneels before Liberty's pedestal. An eagle bearing thunderbolts flies overhead, also toward the right, where the vanquished Confederates are gathered. Jefferson Davis (holding a sack of money), Robert E. Lee (offering his sword in surrender), and John Wilkes Booth (with a pistol and knife) are prominent among them. In the distance is a leaning palmetto tree with a dead serpent hanging limp from it and (beyond) Fort Sumter flying an American flag.

NOTE: THE LITHOGRAPHS WILL BE SHIPPED SEPARATELY AND REQUIRE EXTRA SHIPPING CHARGES

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