Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Chicago in Flames by Currier & Ives

Chicago in Flames by Currier & Ives

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 18 Oct 2024 at 19:34:04 (UTC)

Original – A Currier & Ives color lithograph depicting the Great Chicago Fire of 1871

Reason: I saw this pop up in On This Day for Oct. 8 and think it's pretty good. This is a crop from this version, and I think an improvement, since the color plates didn't line up cleanly with the printed border. There's good detail in close up; what irregularities there are are aspects of the original print (that is, overprinting with successive color layers that often have hard edges). There is some mild browning on the paper itself, but the sepia tint to the bottom area is its own printed color, as is clear on the uncut version.
Articles in which this image appears: Great Chicago Fire, 1871
FP category for this image: Wikipedia:Featured pictures/History/American
Creator: Original by Currier & Ives, exact author unknown; crop by GreenMeansGo

Support as nominator – Moonreach (talk) 19:34, 8 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure my !vote counts, but yes, I do think this is an extremely important historical image. There are so many equally impactful historical events where we don't have the benefit of a quality illustration. GMG ^talk 10:39, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is there any info extant re how accurate this artist's depiction may be? (Photography existed then.) – Sca (talk) 13:07, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Copelin & Hine have a number of photos available currently on Commons, but they're all about the aftermath. Photos existed, but I'm not sure they were common enough, or easily usable enough that people were really running toward the fire trying to snap a shot. File:Destruction of Chicago by Fire, Oct. 1871 LCCN2003662862.jpg is really good too, but again, it's a litho. GMG ^talk 13:37, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support - Beautiful lithograph. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 13:10, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Bammesk (talk) 01:41, 10 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Radomianin (talk) 23:05, 10 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Hamid Hassani (talk) 02:51, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Vulcan❯❯❯Sphere! 12:07, 16 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose The border is part of a lithograph. They aren't meant to be artifically cropped. There may be cases for offering a cropped alternative, but the thin border this has really doesn't rise to that level. In my eyes, this changes it from historical artefact to bad textbook illustration. Also, Currier and Ives lithographs are hand-tinted, and this one seems rather slapdash. Compare https://oldprintshop.com/uploads/jpg/100018.jpg (from https://oldprintshop.com/product/163922?inventoryno=100018) Or [1] Or, hell [https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.06548/ this copy of the same lithograph without all the weird streaking. Like, I get the fire colours are nice in this one, but there's major artistic flaws elsewhere. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.9% of all FPs.} 23:11, 17 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted File:Chicago in Flames by Currier & Ives, 1871 (cropped).jpg --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 19:35, 18 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]