Skip to main content
Artist/Maker
Thomas Nast
(American, born Germany, 1840 - 1902)
Datepublished April 9, 1864
MediumWood engraving on newsprint
DimensionsComposition: 9 × 13 5/8 in. (22.9 × 34.6 cm)
Sheet: 15 11/16 × 10 3/8 in. (39.8 × 26.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of Professor Emeritus Jay Williams, Class of 1954
Object number2019.13.57
Not on view
Description"This piece celebrates the nurturing role of women through its portrayal of the Sanitary Commission. Founded in New York City in 1861, this private organization sought to provide aid and comfort to Union soldiers during the Civil War. The organization supplied nurses, ambulances, and hospitals and even inspected the sanitary conditions of army camps for President Lincoln (1809-1865). By coordinating female war relief efforts the Sanitary Commission allowed many northern women to apply their traditional labors to the Union cause. In his illustration, Nast commemorates the physical care and emotional support that women administered during the conflict. Through trying times, the female form offers the same sense of stability to the viewer. The use of a common woman reminds onlookers of respectable women in their lives. Although the Sanitary Commission broadened the possibilities for female economic and political participation Nast chose to evoke the women’s maternal, caretaking qualities by highlighting their subservient role."
(SOURCE: Mary Bei Prince, "Thomas Nast's Conception of Nineteenth Century Women", 2019)
Collections
Additional Details
Provenance
2019: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by gift of Jay G. Williams.
Signature
Signed "Th Nast" in block at lower right composition.
Inscribed
Title in block across midline of composition in black ink. Publication date "April 9, 1864," publisher, and page number "229" typeset above image at top of the sheet.
Thomas Nast
Date: published January 24, 1863
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.28
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 17, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.255
Thomas Nast
Date: published May 20, 1871
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.133
Thomas Nast
Date: published January 3, 1863
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.26
Carrie Mae Weems
Date: 1990 (printed 2010)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2011.5
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 11, 1871
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.153
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Date: 2018
Medium: Pigment print with silkscreen diamond dust and gold foil
Object number: 2020.1
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 3, 1868
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.103
Firelei Báez
Date: 2013
Medium: Pigmented abaca, cotton, and linen on abaca base sheet with radiograph opaque ink
Object number: 2016.7