John Rogers Statuary

The clay and plaster statuary groups made by John Rogers (1829-1904) from 1859 until after 1888 were so appealing in late Victorian America that “scarcely a family of reasonable means and taste did not possess one.” He portrayed ordinary, everyday, urban and rural people doing ordinary, everyday things. Thereby, he offered an unrivaled transcript of the manners, sports, amusements, social customs, domestic interests, costumes, and even modes of furnishing for the period. He made statues of Civil War soldiers, family groups, literary topics, theater scenes, and historical figures from eight to forty-six inches tall. This book chronicles each Rogers group with a photograph, size, patent or design date, and pertinent anecdotes. It will be useful today as a reference for interpreting life in Victorian America and today’s collectors will covet the pictures, personal letters, advertising, and social commentary presented in the text. The Rogers statuary reflects the lives of our common ancestors of the late nineteenth century.