After Alonzo Chappel; Mrs John Jay [Sarah von Brugh Livingston Jay];  
stipple and line steel plate engraving, unknown engraver.  From: "Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women of Europe and America embracing History, Statesmanship, Naval and Military Life, Philosophy, the Drama, Science, Literature and Art - with Biographies", vol I, page 335; text by Evert Augustus Duyckinck; publ. Johnson, Wilson and Company, 27 Beekman St., NY; 1873.  A note on the title page states:  "illustrated with highly finished steel engravings from original portraits by the most celebrated artists".
 
Sheet 8 3/4 x 11 1/4"; plate 5 1/2 x 7 1/2"; image in very good condition, some age appropriate toning to sheet edges, light foxing, binding marks left margin.  

 Henry J. Johnson was a publishing pioneer in the then nascent gift-book industry of the mid 19th C, producing dozens of lavishly illustrated historical books, often sold on a subscription basis (quite common at the time).  He hired Alonzo Chappel (1828-1887) in 1856 for his "The Life and Times of George Washington".  That led to a series of commissions for Chappel illustrating historical  works, culminating in this volume, "Eminent Men and Women.." and, with William Cullen Bryant, "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" (1888). As many of Chappel's paintings were in the possession of publishers, much of his output was lost and remained unknown to the general public.   His work is held by the Smithsonian, Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, New York Historical Society, and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.   This plate is held by the Library of Congress.

This is an original 19th C engraving, NOT a modern digital reproduction available from a few web sites.

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