Luce Foundation Center

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Open daily, 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m.

The nation’s first collection of American art, an unparalleled record of the American experience.

Plan your visit

Renwick Gallery Stairwwell

Renwick Gallery

Open daily, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Located just feet from the White House, a branch of the museum that is home the nation's collection of contemporary craft and decorative art.

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How Do I Research My Art?

Want to learn more about the painting you found while clearing out the attic? For answers, be prepared for a little detective work.

How to Care for Your Collections

Regardless of the monetary value of your artwork, if it is personally meaningful, you should consider having the object conserved.

Recording a Changing Nation

This resource uses images from photographic surveys in 55 communities in 30 states across the United States as source documents to spark sustained inquiry.

Critical Thinking in Action

These 60-to-95-minute units pair thinking patterns with works of art to instill a thinking disposition transferable across classroom curriculum and into the wider world.

Director’s Circle

A national membership group of museum friends who share a love of American art and craft and our commitment to celebrating the extraordinary creativity of our nation’s artists.

A membership group for young professionals who are interested in immersing themselves in the American art experience.

The Elder’s Daughter

Media - 1967.131 - SAAM-1967.131_1 - 61660

Copied John Rogers, The Elder's Daughter, patented 1877, painted plaster, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1967.131

Free to use

Artwork Details

Title: The Elder’s Daughter
Artist: John Rogers
Date: patented 1877
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 21 x 19 ¹⁄₂ x 10 ⁵⁄₈ in. (53.2 x 49.5 x 27.1 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums: plaster
Mediums Description: painted plaster
Classifications: Sculpture
Keywords: Occupation — religion — elder
Recreation — courting
Equestrian
History — United States — Colonization
Object — fruit — apple
Figure group
Object Number: 1967.131
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1967.131

Artwork Description

John Rogers modeled many groups that included his favorite animal, the horse. To depict the horse accurately, he measured many different breeds, took casts from anatomical specimens, and studied photographs of horses in motion. In Elder’s Daughter, the horse carries a Puritan and his daughter home from church. The elder glares at the young man, who has committed sacrilege by offering his daughter an apple on the Sabbath.