Mar 27, 2014 - Sale 2342

Sale 2342 - Lot 73

Price Realized: $ 7,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) ROGERS, JOHN. 'The Fugitive's Story,' large sculpture by John Rogers. Plaster casting, 22 inches high by 15 at the base. A fine example with original surface. (WGC) New York: John Rogers, patented Sep.1869

Additional Details

a fine example of one of john rogers' civil war 'groups' with an african american theme. John Rogers (1829-1904) produced a number of sculptured scenes like this that were immensely popular with middle class families. Made from plaster rather than bronze, they were affordable and Rogers also gave them a tan surface that didn't show dust. Here we see three of the most famous nineteenth century abolitionists: John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Ward Beecher, and William Lloyd Garrison. They listen intently as a runaway slave woman gives them an account of her escape. She holds her child in the crook of her left arm, his shoeless feet on the desk where Whittier sits. She wears the classic 'turban' common to black women of the South. Wrapped around her and the baby is a tattered shawl; at her feet, a bag with all of her earthly belongings.