Horse drawn sleighs arriving from lower left to a large residence at end of lane in right background.
Frances (Fanny) Palmer was born in England and she and her husband ran a lithography business before arriving in New York City in 1844. By 1850, Palmer was working full-time for Currier & Ives, drawing designs, pulling lithographs, and hand-coloring prints. One of the most active and versatile of the artists working for the company, she often based her sketches on first-hand observations. She worked for the firm for twenty-six years, supporting herself, her husband, her two children and her sister and brother-in-law until her death from tuberculosis at the age of sixty-four. Nathaniel Currier enthusiastically described American Winter Scenes. Evening in his mail-order catalogue: Everybody who has had a country sleigh-ride can appreciate this picture. The moon, peeping through a dark cloud, lights up a scene of pretty girls and the twinkling lights shining through all the windows, as if to impart to those without, the merry spirit of the dancers within.
