This stunning set of delightful caricatures of performing musicians is by the Swiss artist Hieronymus Hess. Each caricature is numbered and are in order: a conductor followed by musicians performing violin, oboe, bassoon, French horn, tenor trombone, clarinet, flute, bass trombone, violin, double bass, a male guitarist and a female guitarist. Each musician is shown wearing a colorful period costume and each lithograph is delicately hand painted.

The thirteen lithographs, collectively entitled Gallerie Musicale, were published in 1827 by lithography specialists Engelmann & Cie. The firm made many important improvements in the field, which was still relatively new at the time. The printer was Eugène Kaeppelin (1805-1865).

Hess was known for his collaborations with Anton Sohn (1769-1840), who had a terracotta figurine workshop in Zizenhausen (Baden), Germany. These lithographs were made after the thirteen-member orchestra Sohn had created in the early nineteenth century. Sohn’s figures were colorfully painted with precise details representing traditional costumes and quickly became popular, although now a complete set would also be rare indeed.