Turkish Lady of Rank (at home)

This appealing costume chromolithograph is from Henry J. Van Lennep’s Plates from the Oriental Album. The work was published in New York in 1862 by Endicott & Co. The plates were done by Charles Parsons after van Lennep’s original paintings.

The work was one of the very few American costume books published in the 19th century. It was one of the only larger publishing projects of the 1860s due to the Civil war. McGrath notes it is “the one really big chromolithographic book of this decade…the art is simple, but [Charles] Parson’s hand is obvious in the good lithography, and Endicott’s printing is well done for its time” (McGrath, 38-162) Reese notes that “…Endicott achieved a rich variety of color which demonstrated the increased technical ability of American printers in the medium.” (Reese, Stamped with a National Character 97)

Henry Van Lennep (1815-1889) was born in Smyrna, Turkey. He was educated in the United States and returned to Turkey as a missionary in 1840. He returned to the states in 1861 and produced the original paintings that illustrated the dress of Middle Eastern people.