Locomotive Engine, "The Rocket" 1830

Object NamePrint

Artist / Maker George Stephenson

Date1830

MediumColor print

Dimensions15 1/4 × 19 1/16 in. (38.7 × 48.4 cm) Other (Framed): 13 1/4 × 17 1/16 in. (33.7 × 43.3 cm)

ClassificationsPrints and Printing Plates

Credit LinePurchased by University Museums. In the Farm House Museum Collection, Farm House Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object number80.6.1

Status

On view

Collections

Works of Art on Paper & Photography

Label TextThe 19th century was a period of rapid global change. Almost daily, the public was introduced to new inventions that reshaped the way people lived, worked, and traveled. While newspapers quickly spread the news of these developments, even overseas, it was lithography that allowed people to see them with their own eyes. Lithographic prints made technological progress tangible, bringing striking images of steam trains, early automobiles, and even inventions like the “Ariel Carriage” into homes, schools, and public spaces across the world. These prints not only documented innovation but also fueled public fascination with what was possible such as a potential “Ariel Carriage”. In an age of accelerating change, lithography helped bridge the gap between imagination and reality. https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/lithography-in-the-nineteenth-century T. Devonshire Jones, ‘Ackerman’s “Repository” 1809-28’, British Art Journal, XI, no. 1, 69-74

Locations