2-833-302 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Edmonia Lewis is one of the most important American sculptors of the 19th century. The free-born child of an African American man and a Chippewa woman, Lewis was also known by her tribal name, Wildfire. After studies at Oberlin College and apprenticeships in Boston, she moved to Rome and joined a community of American expatriate artists. Portrait medallions like this one are extremely rare in her oeuvre.;The subject, George Scott Winslow, was the son of a merchant from a prominent Boston family.