The Bone Player

William Sidney Mount|François Delarue|Jean-Baptiste Adolphe Lafosse|William Schaus

1857 · Hand-colored lithograph · Drawings and Prints

Five years before the Civil War, Mount received a commission from the French publisher Goupil and Company to paint African American musicians that would be lithographed for European print buyers. This hand-colored image reproduces a life-size painting now at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shows a well-dressed figure playing a rythmic instrument associated with minstrel shows. The musician's face and dress convey individuality, while the ivory or bone strips he holds associates him a type exotically appealing to Europeans. This version of the print was published in New York, indicating a market on both sides of the Atlantic.

Artist

William Sidney Mount|François Delarue|Jean-Baptiste Adolphe Lafosse|William Schaus

Date

1857

Medium

Hand-colored lithograph

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leonard L. Milberg Gift, 1998