Copperheads Worshiping Their Idol
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
sheet: 18 7/8 x 12 1/2 in. (48 x 31.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Georgiana W. Sargent, in memory of John Osborne Sargent, 1924
Accession Number
24.63.202
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around 1864 amid the American Civil War, *Copperheads Worshiping Their Idol* a biting lithograph satire by an anonymous American artist. "Copperheads" was a derogatory nickname for Peace Democrats in the North—fervent critics of President Lincoln's war policies who sympathized with the Confederacy. The image likely mocks them as idolatrous fanatics, revering a false god symbolized by skulls and enslaved figures, highlighting accusations of their disloyalty and tolerance for slavery. This reflects the era's intense political divisions, when propaganda fueled Union morale. As a lithogra...