Jamison's Jayhawkers (from Confederate War Etchings)
1861–63
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Image: 4 3/4 x 6 5/8 in. (12.1 x 16.8 cm) Sheet: 7 7/8 x 10 3/8 in. (20 x 26.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1938
Accession Number
38.13.17
Tags
Art Historical Context
Adalbert John Volck created this etching as part of his *Confederate War Etchings* series during the early years of the American Civil War. A Baltimore dentist with strong Southern sympathies, Volck used his artistic talents to produce satirical prints that circulated in the Confederacy. The title *Jamison’s Jayhawkers* refers to irregular Union fighters known for their raids along the Kansas-Missouri border, a subject that allowed Volck to comment on the chaos and violence of the conflict from a Confederate perspective. Rendered in the intimate scale of an etching—just 4¾ by 6⅝ inches—the pr...
About the Artist
Adalbert John Volck · 1828–1912
Adalbert John Volck (1828–1912) led one of the more remarkable double lives in American art history. Born in Augsburg, Bavaria, he emigrated to the United States as a young man, eventually settling in Baltimore, where he built a distinguished career as a dentist. Yet beneath his professional respectability lay a fierce artistic talent and a passionate political identity that would find explosive e...