Collections: American Art: Samuel Fleet Homestead

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Samuel Fleet Homestead

Frances “Fanny” Palmer was a professional artist who worked for the famous printmaking firm of Currier & Ives for twenty years. Although watercolor was considered a polite accomplishment for genteel women—what an 1856 writer referred to as a “husband-catcher”—it was rare for a woman to have an artistic career in the mid-nineteenth century. This picture of a handsome Neoclassical mansion on Fulton Street in Brooklyn demonstrates Palmer’s deft control of the watercolor medium and her eye for anecdotal detail.


• Artist: Frances Flora Palmer, American, 1812-1876
• Medium: Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite on cream, moderately thick, slightly textured wove paper mounted to Japanese paper.
• Dates: ca. 1850s
• Dimensions: 18 3/8 x 27 1/4 in. (46.7 x 69.2 cm)
• Markings: Partial watermark in paper: "J WHAT ... / 184"
• Signature: Signed lower left: "F. F. Palmer"
• Collections: American Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 43.171
• Credit Line: Bequest of Clara H. Baxter
• Image: Overall, 43.171_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Frances Flora Palmer (American, 1812-1876). Samuel Fleet Homestead, ca. 1850s. Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite on cream, moderately thick, slightly textured wove paper mounted to Japanese paper., 18 3/8 x 27 1/4 in. (46.7 x 69.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Clara H. Baxter, 43.171 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 43.171_SL1.jpg)