Joseph Rusling Meeker (American, 1827–1887). The Acadians in the Achafalaya, "Evangeline," 1871. Oil on canvas, 31 5/8 x 42 1/16 in. (80.3 x 106.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 50.118 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.118_PS22.jpg)
Joseph Rusling Meeker (American, 1827–1887). The Acadians in the Achafalaya, "Evangeline," 1871. Oil on canvas, 31 5/8 x 42 1/16 in. (80.3 x 106.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 50.118 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.118_framed_PS22.jpg)
The Acadians in the Achafalaya, "Evangeline"
Joseph Rusling Meeker
American Art
On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Radical Care
In the years immediately before the Civil War, Northerners associated dense, steamy swamps with the moral decay of Southern society and the plight of runaway slaves. Here, Joseph Rusling Meeker conveyed the more Eden-like, post–Civil War vision of the swamps. He took his inspiration from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s earlier epic poem Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (1847). Longfellow tells of young Evangeline, one of the French Acadians expelled from Canada by the British in 1755, who searches for her lost lover amid a “dreamlike” and “strange” landscape. Adhering to Longfellow’s descriptions, Meeker evoked the lush flora of Louisiana’s Bayou Plaquemine, where Acadians sought refuge.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1871
DIMENSIONS
31 5/8 x 42 1/16 in. (80.3 x 106.8 cm)
frame: 40 x 50 x 3 3/4 in. (101.6 x 127 x 9.5 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower right: "JR Meeker, 1871"
INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed verso under lining canvas: "The Acadians in the Achafalaya,/ "Evangeline"/ RM [in monogram] 1871."
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
50.118
CREDIT LINE
A. Augustus Healy Fund
PROVENANCE
Prior provenance not yet documented; by 1897, possibly acquired by Thomas E. Tutt of St. Louis, MO; by 1947, acquired by Victor D. Spark, New York, NY; February 24, 1947, purchased from Victor D. Spark by M. Knoedler & Co., New York; October 20, 1950, purchased from M. Knoedler & Co. by the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Radical Care
CAPTION
Joseph Rusling Meeker (American, 1827–1887). The Acadians in the Achafalaya, "Evangeline," 1871. Oil on canvas, 31 5/8 x 42 1/16 in. (80.3 x 106.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 50.118 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.118_PS22.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 50.118_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
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