Mid 19th Century Engraving by Thomas Oldham Barlow “Washington Irving and His Literary Friends”, in Walnut Veneer Frame

Mid 19th Century “Washington Irving and His Literary Friends at Sunnyside” Engraving by Thomas Oldham Barlow, in Victorian Walnut Veneer Frame

This engraving depicts an imaginary gathering of the leading early nineteenth-century literary men of the United States inside Sunnyside, the Hudson River home of the writer Washington Irving. In this print, Washington Irving is shown in the center of the image, among his “literary friends”; from left to right appear Henry Theodore Tuckerman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., William Gilmore Simms, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Parker Willis, William Hickling Prescott, (Irving), James Kirke Paulding, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Cullen Bryant, John Pendleton Kennedy, James Fenimore Cooper, George Bancroft.

Steel line and stipple engraving. Engraving by Thomas Oldham Barlow (1824-1889), after a drawing by Felix Octavius Carr Darley (1822-1888), made from photographs by Mathew B. Brady (1823-1896), in conjunction with an oil painting by Christian Schussele (1824-1879).

Thomas Oldham Barlow was an English mezzotint engraver. His engravings helped to popularize the works of painters. He was made a Royal Academician.

This engraving is in good antique condition with normal signs of age and use. Some evidence of attempts at repair of the wood veneer are present. It can be displayed as it is, or it could benefit from some professional restoration.