"Stump Speaking"
Gautier, Louis-Adolphe after George Caleb Bingham
New York: Fishel, Adler & Schwartz, 1856

George Caleb Bingham is sometimes referred to as the most American of American artists.  This image, one of his most famous images, reveals why that sobriquet is so appropriate. Bingham was an extraordinarily talented self-taught painter who grew up along the Missouri River near St. Louis. His intimate familiarity with life on the American frontier is one of the aspects of his paintings that make them come alive. He was a genre painter who sensitively recorded everyday pursuits and details of American life on canvas. In this image, he created a new type of history painting that combined narrative elements with a remarkable freshness and vitality. He skillfully depicted real people convincingly engaged by the words of the politician before them.   As the artist is recorded to have said, "I have endeavored to personify a wiry politician grown gray in the pursuit of office and the service of party.  His influence upon the crowd is quite manifest, but I have placed behind him a shrewd clear headed opponent, who is busy taking notes and who will, when his turn comes, make sophisms fly like cobwebs before the housekeepers broom." Tyler p.43

Two years after he completed the painting in Philadelphia in 1854, Bingham sold the copyright to a French engraving and publishing firm who produced this fine engraving.

28 x 35 inches sheet, uncolored engraving.
Extremely sharp and crisp impression having large stain (wood") in upper right image.  Imprint information under image has been traced over.