Existing comment:
John Rogers
Taking the Oath -- Drawing Rations, 1866
From the 1860s through about 1890, John Rogers's popular statuary groups decorated the parlors of many middle-class Victorian homes. The Rogers Groups, as they were known, portrayed realistic scenes with convincing character types. The great appeal of the sculptures to the average citizen led Rogers to mass produce them in plaster and to sell them t very modest prices. Taking the Oath -- Drawing Rations, depicting a Reconstruction scene, was one of Rogers' most admired works, and he considered it his best sculpture. In it, a Southern woman is forced to take the oath of allegiance from a Federal soldier in order to obtain food for her family. |