Elija Rice
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.
Watercolor On Ivory
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Blackford
