The contraband

Wood, Thomas Waterman (1823-1903)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1866

Height:

71.8 cm  (28 1/4 in.)

Width:

51.4 cm  (20 1/4 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

In the center foreground in front of a provost marshal's office a Black man lifting his hat to salute; on the left background (view through the open door of the office) a cylindrical drum (probably a tenor drum).

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Cylindrical drum [2532]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Notes

This painting belongs to a series of three paintings called "A Bit of War History", including "The Recruit" and "The Veteran" (both in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 84.12b,c). Wood uses for all three paintings the same background and environment (with only little variations). It is said that the series was inspired by a Black solider injured in the Civil War.

RIdIM record id

6968