Colonel Elijah Rice
John Wood Dodge
1839
Medium
Painting-Miniature
Classification
Painting-Miniature
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Blackford
Accession Number
1973.40
Tags
bust
About this artwork
Colonel Elijah Rice invested heavily in sugar cane in Cuba, as a thriving part of the slave trade before the Civil War. His life ended in tragedy when he and all but one of his fourteen children died of consumption in Cuba. His widow, with her surviving daughter, Amanda, returned to Huntsville, Alabama, where John Wood Dodge painted this piece. The locket has elaborate hairwork on the reverse.
About the Artist
John Wood Dodge · 1807–1893
1807–1893