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Men of Progress—Invention on the eve
of the Civil War
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In 1857 the inventor of the coal-burning cookstove,
Jordan Mott, commissioned Christian Schussele to
paint a group portrait of eighteen living American
scientists and inventors who had “altered the
course of contemporary civilization.” A gathering
of that sort never actually occurred, and to complete
the work, Schussele traveled to the home of each
subject to make a sketch from life. Just before
the finished picture was delivered in 1862, John
Ericsson’s Union ironclad vessel, the Monitor,
had won its victory over the Confederacy’s
Merrimac. To mark the occasion, Ericsson’s
likeness was hastily added. In part because of these
men and their inventions, the Civil War was America’s
first modern war. |
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Christian Schussele (1824–1879)
Oil on canvas, 1862
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift
of Andrew W. Mellon, 1942
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