Starlight Bess, of pure Virginia stock – Vintage Wall Art
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
This rare antique lithograph captures Starlight Bess, of pure Virginia stock in remarkable detail. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
Starlight Bess, of pure Virginia stock
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The title names a horse, Starlight Bess, and its boast of "pure Virginia stock" plays on both animal breeding and the tobacco the label was printed to sell. Tobacco labels of the 1860s used bold color to catch the eye of buyers, and many drew on horses, sporting scenes and rural life. The record also lists African American children among the subjects, a reminder that advertising of the postwar years often relied on racial stereotypes, so the image is worth viewing with that history in mind.
| Created / published | 1869 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : lithograph, color. |
| Genre | Tobacco package labels 1860-1870.Advertisements 1860-1870.Lithographs Color 1860-1870. |
| Subjects | Tobacco--1860-1870. African Americans--Children--1860-1870. Horses--1860-1870. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,457 × 1,156 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-217536 |
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