2002 Americana & Decorative Arts. November 20.

lot of 12. Hand-colored lithographs, 11 1/8 x 17", each titled and signed lower left, "C. Nebel fecit", lower right "Bayot lith." A complete set from George Wilkins Kendall, The War Between the United States and Mexico Ilustrated. New York: D. Appleton & Company, New York. 1851. An exceptionally scarce set, illustrating the highlights of the war in northern Mexico. One of apparently only 500 copies printed, this is the art against which all other Mexican War illustrations are measured. Kendall, editor and publisher of the New Orleans Picayune, joined Zachary Taylor's army in Matamoras, Mexico in 1846, and from then until the fall of Mexico City, was in the thick of things, serving as both a correspondent and as a member of a Texas Ranger company. After the War, he returned to New Orleans and conceived of this monumental work, choosing the German Carl Nebel as the artist, and the Paris firm of Rose-Joseph Lemercier as the lithographer. The result was an acknowledged masterpiece, and was distributed in three formats, ranging in price from $34-40 depending upon style of binding. The appeal of this series was expressed well by the editor of the Louisville "Daily Gazette:" "What American, with an American heart, does not love to dwell on those scenes, where our countrymen covered our arms with glory, and won for themselves immortal fame? Who would not rather ornament his walls with these magnificent pictures of Kendall's -- each one alive with glorious memories, -- rather than with unmeaning sketches or colored views, with which are conected no dear recollections?" (Sandweiss, et. al. "Eyewitness to War," 1989:38).