Colonel Elijah Rice

John Wood Dodge, Colonel Elijah Rice, 1839, watercolor on ivory, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Blackford, 1973.40
Copied John Wood Dodge, Colonel Elijah Rice, 1839, watercolor on ivory, image: sight 2 1⁄2 x 2 in. (6.4 x 5.2 cm) oval, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Blackford, 1973.40
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Colonel Elijah Rice
Artist
Date
1839
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: sight 2 1⁄2 x 2 in. (6.4 x 5.2 cm) oval
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Blackford
Mediums
Mediums Description
watercolor on ivory
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait male — Rice, Elija — bust
Object Number
1973.40
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1973.40

Artwork Description

Colonel Elijah Rice invested heavily in sugar cane in Cuba, as a thriving part of the slave trade before the Civil War. His life ended in tragedy when he and all but one of his fourteen children died of consumption in Cuba. His widow, with her surviving daughter, Amanda, returned to Huntsville, Alabama, where John Wood Dodge painted this piece. The locket has elaborate hairwork on the reverse.