CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL PAINTED CANTEEN BY PROMINENT 19TH CENTURY VIRGINIA ARTIST JOHN ADAMS ELDER
inv # 02-13599

This marvelous painted Confederate wooden canteen pictures two despondent but proud Confederate soldiers at war’s end heading home in the desolate war-torn landscape. John Adams Elder is attributed to this painting & it fits his oeuvre. There is no signature visible. The reverse is painted “Yorktown Centennial” & “SOUVENIR OF THE TRIP TO RICHMOND VA OCT 1881”. October of 1881 was the centennial of Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. In 1881, meetings of Confederate Veterans were still very much frowned upon by the Federal Government & evidently the Veterans gathered in Yorktown under the auspices of celebrating the centennial & veterans from every state were well represented. At that gathering three prominent Richmond artists were hired to decorate the celebration, Elder, William L. Sheppard & R. T. Daniels. This sentimental painting by Elder is most reminiscent of his 1886 painting “After Appomattox”. John Adams “Jack” Elder (1840-1910) was born in Fredericksburg, VA. He joined the army as aide to Captain William H. Caskie, 38th Battalion Heavy Artillery. After serving the Confederacy until Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, John Elder exchanged his rifle for his artist’s brush. He is best known for his Confederate images including well known portraits of Lee and Jackson, his art is on display at important institutions in the South and at Smithsonian.