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Emblems of the Civil War

Alexander Pope

American Art

Twenty years after the Civil War, a rising wave of curiosity and nostalgia accompanied the gradual passing of a generation of veterans. Memorial still lifes—which recorded actual objects related to the war in artificial, ceremonial arrangements—revived the lessons of the conflict while suggesting its gradual recession into the past. Alexander Pope here arranged the military mementos of Major General William Tibbits (died 1880), of the Union army’s Second New York Cavalry. They include a Confederate bullet on a string and a key to Libby Prison, a site of Confederate atrocities.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1888
DIMENSIONS 54 3/16 x 51 1/8 in. (137.6 x 129.8 cm) frame: 66 11/16 x 63 5/8 x 2 3/4 in. (169.4 x 161.6 x 7 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed lower right: "ALEX--POPE--88 / --BOSTON--"
INSCRIPTIONS Inscribed on calling card lower left: "Mr. Alexander Pope"
CREDIT LINE Dick S. Ramsay Fund, Governing Committee of The Brooklyn Museum, and Anonymous Donors
RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
CAPTION Alexander Pope (American, 1849-1924). Emblems of the Civil War, 1888. Oil on canvas, 54 3/16 x 51 1/8 in. (137.6 x 129.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, Governing Committee of The Brooklyn Museum, and Anonymous Donors, 66.5 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 66.5_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 66.5_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph