The Power of Music by William Sidney Mount, 1847 Set in rural Long Island before the Civil War, Mount's complex painting presents an African American laborer listening intently to a fiddle tune enjoyed by white men. While a love of music unites the figures in a bond of shared humanity, the two races occupy different spaces--one inside, one outside, both separated by a barn door--effectively symbolizing the pronounced divisions in America at the time.

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Size: 4525px × 3660px
Photo credit: © Niday Picture Library / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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