Images(2)

Council of War

Maker John Rogers (American, 1829 - 1904)

Collections

American Sculpture

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Date1868

Mediumpainted plaster

Dimensionsoverall: 24 × 18 × 26 in. (61 × 45.7 × 66 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextJohn Rogers's sculptural groups addressed uniquely American subjects with a realism that made them incredibly popular in the late 19th century; his workshop produced over 80,000 individual plaster sculptures between 1860 and 1892. In Council of War, President Lincoln is flanked by General Ulysses S. Grant and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton as they discuss Civil War battle plans. The sculpture includes details, such as Lincoln's awkward pose as he struggles with a chair too small for his lanky frame and Stanton's wiping of his glasses, that were meant to provide insight into the subjects' states of mind and clarify the narrative.

In 1858 Rogers studied sculpture in Paris and in Rome, where he met William Wetmore Story and Harriet Hosmer. Although he decided not to pursue Neoclassical subject matter, his European training gave him an understanding of anatomy that allowed him to portray the figures in Council of War naturalistically.

Object number14.86

Exhibitions

American Made: Selections from The Huntington's Early American Art Collections