The Council of War
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
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.
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)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
The Council of War
Date
1868
Geography
Place made: New York, United States
Medium
Plaster
Classification
Dimensions
height: 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm)
Inscriptions
Inscribed around front of base: "THE COUNCIL OF WAR"
Markings
Inscribed with maker's name.
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roger L. Simons, by exchange
Accession Number
54.206
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Beside Lincoln, who else is pictured here?
Mr. Lincoln is pictured between the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton on the President's left (your right) and General Ulysses S. Grant on the opposite side, with the shorter beard.Also, the artist, John Rogers, was the first American to patent and mass-produce sculptures for the upper-middle-class market to display in their homes. He worked in clay and plaster, instead of more expensive materials like marble.
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