Missouri Courtroom

William Josiah Brickey, Missouri Courtroom, 1852, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1974.112
William Josiah Brickey, Missouri Courtroom, 1852, oil on canvas, 29 1836 in. (74.091.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1974.112
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Artwork Details

Title
Missouri Courtroom
Date
1852
Dimensions
29 1836 in. (74.091.5 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Interior — civic — courthouse
  • Occupation — law — lawyer
  • State of being — other — poverty
  • Cityscape — Missouri
  • Occupation — law — judge
  • Figure group
  • Animal — dog
Object Number
1974.112

Artwork Description

The participants in this courtroom scene focus their attention on a fair-skinned man dressed in rags, possibly one of the thousands of Irish immigrants who had escaped the potato famine and made their way to Missouri. These farmers settled in urban areas where they hired out as day laborers, struggling to get by with little income and no property of their own. (Parrish, gen. ed., A History of Missouri, vol. II, 1972) The men who sit in judgment are clearly more prosperous, and this painting evokes the mixed welcome that generations of European immigrants experienced in nineteenth-century America.

Works by this artist (3 items)

Eric Calvin McDonald, Tina Turner, 1988, tempera on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jo C. Tartt, Jr., 1988.88.2
Tina Turner
Date1988
tempera on paper
Not on view
Comedian Tom Parks
Date1988
tempera on paper
Not on view