Inside a Hut of the Reindeer Lapps and Lapp Costume, Lapponia, 1842

This original antique lithograph, hand colored, is from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). The upper image looks out from inside a tall conical hut built of poles and turf, its doorway opening onto a valley where reindeer graze. At the left a family in pointed caps and long colored gowns sits on the ground near a fire laid on logs, a pot hook hanging on a cord from the smoke hole above; a woman at right tends the fire, and a man in a blue tunic stands with arms folded. In the lower image a man in a red cap and lilac belted tunic with yellow leggings gestures toward a woman in a tall curved yellow cap and long blue gown with a pouch and knife at her belt; at right a townswoman in a black cap, black bodice, white sleeves and pink buttoned skirt holds out her hand. A small turf hut and reindeer appear behind them.

The top margin is lettered "Tav 91", "LAPPONIA" and "Tom IV". The upper caption reads "Interno d' una Capanna di Lapponi dei Renni" (Interior of a hut of the reindeer Lapps). The lower captions read "Lapponi dei Renni" (Reindeer Lapps) and "Donna borghese di Jackino" (Townswoman of Jackino).

Lapland is the far northern region across Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula, home of the Sami, formerly called Lapps. The reindeer Sami herded reindeer between seasonal pastures and lived in conical dwellings of poles covered with turf or cloth, with a central hearth beneath the smoke hole.

A strong subject for a collection of Arctic, Scandinavian or travel prints.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.