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 1⁄8 x 36 in. (74.0 x 91.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1974.112
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Artwork Details

Title
Missouri Courtroom
Artist
Date
1852
Location
Dimensions
29 1⁄8 x 36 in. (74.0 x 91.5 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
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/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 (80 items)

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Morris Kantor, Synthetic Arrangement, 1922, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1966.53
Synthetic Arrangement
Artist
Date1922
oil on canvas
On view
Morris Kantor, Baseball at Night, 1934, oil on linen, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Morris Kantor, 1976.146.18
Baseball at Night
Artist
Date1934
oil on linen
On view
Morris Kantor, The Porch, 1960, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Morris Kantor, 1976.146.76
The Porch
Artist
Date1960
oil on canvas
Not on view
Image Not Available
Inlet
Artist
Date1952
oil on fabric: linen mounted on fiberboard
Not on view

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Untitled Landscape
Artist
Dateca. 1930s
crayon and pen and ink on paper
Not on view
Paul Manship, (Sketch for Diana's Dog), ca. 1920s, crayon on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Paul Manship, 1966.47.163
(Sketch for Diana’s Dog)
Artist
Dateca. 1920s
crayon on paper
Not on view