The Bone Player
Not on view
Five years before the Civil War, Mount received a commission from the French publisher Goupil and Company, through William Schaus their New York agent, to paint two works that show African American musicians. Life-sized lithographs based on the paintings were then hand-colored before being sold. This print relates to a painting at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shows a well-dressed figure playing bones, a rythmic instrument associated with Black minstrels. 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.
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