South Carolina Cherubs (After Raphael)

Artist George N. Barnard (American, 1819 - 1902)

Dateca. 1874

MediumAlbumen stereograph

DimensionsImage and sheet (both): 3 5/16 × 6 1/8 inches (8.41 × 15.56 cm)
Mount: 3 7/16 × 6 15/16 inches (8.73 × 17.62 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.224

SignedOn mount recto, left edge, in black type: "BARNARD'S SPECIALTIES."

InscribedOn mount recto, right edge, in black type: "No. 263 King St., Charleston, S.C."; On mount verso, center, white label, in black type: "No. 47. / SOUTH CAROLINA CHERUBS - AFTER RAPHAEL.".

Markingsnone

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage(s) of two young boys; the boy on the left is shirtless and rests his chin on in his palm; the boy next to him is smaller and his arms are crossed on the table in front of him.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This stereograph of two African American children references the well-known Renaissance painting by Raphael, the Sistine Madonna of ca. 1512–13. George Barnard deliberately evoked this painting for its symbolic resonance. By posing the boys as innocent, angelic cherubs, he suggests that these children—who would have been among the first generation of African Americans to be born outside of slavery—are symbols of racial freedom and national redemption in the aftermath of the American Civil War.

Published References

Keith F. Davis, George N. Barnard: Photographer of Sherman's Campaign (Kansas City: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1990): 180-92.

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