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Description

Handsome American Lithograph Portrait of Paganini

An early American lithograph portrait of the great virtuoso violinist. Niccolò Paganini led a tragic life and suffered greatly from various diseases and the effects of ill-conceived treatments. He took mercury and opium for syphilis, with which he was diagnosed in 1822, leading to serious physical and psychological side effects. He may have also suffered from Marfan syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Rumored to be associated with the devil, the church denied his body a Catholic burial in Genoa.

This lithograph is a result of a brief partnership between two Massachusetts printers, George Endicott and Moses Swett, both of whom had worked at the Pendleton Firm in Boston. The partnership spanned only a few years in the early 1830s.

Endicott & Co.

George Endicott was born in Canton, Massachusetts on June 14, 1802. He began his career in Baltimore as an ornamental painter beginning in 1820. George Endicott's earliest imprints appear in 1830, when he and Moses Swett, an experienced lithographer from Boston who had previously worked for Pendleton, formed a partnership located at Graphic Hall on April 1, 1830. The firm relocated to New York in December 1831, where it took offices at 111 Nassau Street, from 1831 to 1834. Thereafter, America on Stone lists Endicott at 359 Broadway from 1834 to 1840. Following George Endicott's death in 1848, the firm continued operating as William Endicott & Co. Francis Endicott (born ca. 1834) worked at the company from 1852 to 1886, and George Endicott, Jr. ran the firm from 1887 to 1891.

Rarity

This lithograph portrait is very rare. We find no examples listed in OCLC. Not in RBH.  

Condition Description
Lithograph print. Some age toning to the sheet. Old yellowish stain to upper left (image not affected). Upper corners slightly chipped.