Worship of the North (from Confederate War Etchings)
1861–63
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Image: 4 5/8 x 6 3/8 in. (11.7 x 16.2 cm) Sheet: 7 15/16 x 10 7/16 in. (20.1 x 26.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1938
Accession Number
38.13.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created during the height of the American Civil War, *Worship of the North* belongs to Adalbert John Volck’s series of Confederate War Etchings. Produced between 1861 and 1863, the small print captures the intense political divisions of the era through a sharply satirical lens. Volck, a Southern sympathizer, used the etching to comment on Northern attitudes and leadership, presenting them in a manner designed to rally Confederate viewers and critique Union policies. Etching proved an ideal medium for such wartime commentary. Its ability to produce multiple impressions allowed these images to ...
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...