The Consecration, 1861 (Painting)

Painted in 1865, George Cochran Lambdin's The Consecration, 1861 depicts a soldier leaving home for war, and symbolizes the hope of reconciliation - not just between the man and woman, but between a divided country. The work features the same soldier depicted in Lambdin's paintings At The Front and Winter Quarters in Virginia, Army of the Potomac.

Per the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields: "Painted during the last year of the Civil War, The Consecration recalls the romantic spirit in which many men went off to battle. In a comfortable Yankee library, filled with the furnishings and flowers, a beautiful woman kisses the sword of her officer, dedicating it to a noble cause. The symbolism of Lambdin's gray-blue color scheme must have been obvious to his postwar audience."

Artist: George Cochran Lambdin
Date: 1865
Original medium: Oil on Canvas