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The Council of War

John Rogers

Decorative Arts and Design

This sculptural group was a memorial to Abraham Lincoln and the recent war, and was marketed as such to a wide audience of upper-middle-class Americans. It represents the seated president receiving the map of a battle plan from General Ulysses S. Grant and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The sculptor John Rogers established his reputation for this type of narrative figure group by 1863 with a work titled Union Refugees, which was initially rendered in bronze. Rogers's method of patenting his designs and replicating them in plaster made him the first American to mass-produce sculpture for a popular market.
MEDIUM Plaster
DATES 1868
DIMENSIONS height: 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Inscribed with maker's name.
INSCRIPTIONS Inscribed around front of base: "THE COUNCIL OF WAR"
ACCESSION NUMBER 54.206
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger L. Simons, by exchange
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Cast plaster sculpture of figural group. Civil War scene representing President Lincoln seated between Secretary of War Stanton (proper left) and General Grant (proper right), and reading a large paper. Figures are on a circular base flattened in back. Condition: Good repaired and painted.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION John Rogers (American, 1829-1904). The Council of War, 1868. Plaster, height: 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger L. Simons, by exchange, 54.206. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 54.206_acetate_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 54.206_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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