The Lord Is My Shepherd is an 1863 oil-on-wood painting by American artistEastman Johnson. The painting measures 16 5/8 x 13 1/8 in. (42.3 x 33.2 cm.) and is on display at theSmithsonian American Art Museum, inWashington, D.C.[1]
The title of the painting comes fromPsalm 23, which begins with the line: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Johnson painted it just after theEmancipation Proclamation was announced in 1863. Its imagery includes an African-American man reading the first part of a Bible, possibly theBook of Exodus. He is sitting against a blue jacket, which may indicate service in the Union army. President Abraham Lincoln had recently authorized organization of theUnited States Colored Troops.[2] This is one of several works by Eastman Johnson with African-American subjects.
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 Podcast: The Civil War and American Art, Episode 4,Smithsonian American Art Museum[3] |
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