Chromolithographed print from a painting by Richard C. Woodville and lithographed by Thielley, showing a civil marriage in the United States from the 1850's. 17½x20¼" including margins, loose inside a wooden frame.

Richard Caton Woodville (1825–1855), American genre painter, turned from medical studies to painting and studied art at Düsseldorf. He spent most of his brief life in Europe, but his popular paintings, which exhibit a zest for varied characterizations, were widely distributed in the United States in prints. Among his other works are War News From Mexico and The Sailor's Wedding. His son, Richard Caton Woodville (1856-1927) was the most prolific "battle" artist of the nineteenth and early twentieth century in Britain, producing countless oil paintings and drawings, many for the Illustrated London News.