2-999-682 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Old '76 and Young '48, 1849. This intergenerational drama is set in a sumptuously furnished dining room. A young soldier, his injured left arm in a sling, his boots and trousers mud-spattered, and sword and gloves flung on the carpet, has just returned from service in the Mexican War. Gesturing expansively toward the Revolutionary portrait, he seeks approval from his older relative, who appears lost in memory. Other family members, presumably the soldier's parents and sister, dressed in the fashion of the moment, listen with concern. In the doorway to the right, three African American house servants attend to the conversation.