Until the 1840s, history painting, portraiture, and landscapes were the subjects of the majority of art produced in this country. At midcentury, however, artists began to look increasingly to daily life for their subject matter. George Caleb Bingham’s 1846 painting The Jolly Flatboatmen depicts a moment of leisure enjoyed by the crew of a cargo raft descending the Mississippi—a major avenue of western commerce. In 1847 the American Art-Union issued this large mezzotint after Bingham’s famous painting for distribution to its membership—9,666 engravings were distributed to members around the country, and in 1860 an additional 8,000 were struck from the original plate.