Procession of Victuallers

Item

Title

Procession of Victuallers

Creator

Joseph Yeager
American, c. 1792–1859
After John Lewis Krimmel
American, b. Germany, 1786–1821
Published c. 1821 by Joseph Yeager

Materials

Aquatint, etching, and engraving with hand coloring, second state of two

Measurements

19-3/4 x 25-1/2 in. (50.2 x 64.8 cm)

Description

Not much can be added to the description of this event, which is provided in detail within the text below the image. What the historical archives have yet to reveal, though, is precisely why William White and his fellow “victuallers”—livestock farmers, really—decided to parade their animals, a collective 87,000 pounds of meat on the hoof, through the city of Philadelphia on this particular day in March 1821.

Joseph Yeager was an engraver who worked in Philadelphia between 1816 and 1845. This intaglio, reportedly his only aquatint, was engraved after a similarly sized watercolor completed by John Krimmel in April 1821, about a month after the procession. The watercolor is said to be one of his finest works; it was also one of his last. Krimmel drown on July 15, 1821, while swimming in a pond near Germantown.

Source

Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, partial gift and purchase from John C. O’Connor and Ralph M. Yeager.

Identifier

86.708

Rights

This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.