Drawing the Elephant

From 1855-1857, Lambdin studied art in Paris and Munich. Upon returning to Philadelphia he specialized in painting scenes of childhood life. "Drawing the Elephant" dates from 1859 and pictures a small girl holding up a figure of an elephant for another girl who sketches it. Around 1860 Lambdin created several genre scenes featuring children painting or sketching. The work grew out of an illustration assignment for John W. Ehninger's "Autograph Etchings by American Artists" (1859), and was inspired by Thomas William Parson's poem "Childhood".