Artwork Page for The Power of Music

Details / Information for The Power of Music

The Power of Music

1847

William Sidney Mount

(American, 1807–1868)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 67 x 78 x 7.5 cm (26 3/8 x 30 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 43.4 x 53.5 cm (17 1/16 x 21 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1991.110
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
207 American Realism
Print
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Did You Know?

Mount was an accomplished fiddle player and even patented a new design for the instrument.

Description

Set in rural Long Island before the Civil War, Mount's complex painting presents an African American laborer listening intently to a fiddle tune enjoyed by white men. While a love of music unites the figures in a bond of shared humanity, the two races occupy different spaces--one inside, one outside, both separated by a barn door--effectively symbolizing the pronounced divisions in America at the time.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts four men: three are White and one is Black. The White men are gathered inside a barn to the left side of the painting, with one playing the fiddle. The Black man stands just outside the barn on the right side, leaning against the door, listening to the music.

The Power of Music

1847

William Sidney Mount

(American, 1807–1868)
America

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