“The John J. Wagner Family of Aurora, Illinois” heads to Lombard for the summer

Our Famous c1845 painting will leave us for the summer.

We are loaning “The John J. Wagner Family of Aurora, Illinois” to the Lombard Historical Society, which will display it as part of an exhibit on Sheldon Peck, the radical abolitionist and itinerant portrait painter who worked in this area in the mid-1800s.

Mostly notable for the large number of subjects in it, the painting makes a statement about the political convictions of the family by showing an abolitionist newspaper in the hands of Mr. Wagner.

We last loaned this painting to the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in 1996.

In the photo, Doug White of the Lombard museum takes high resolution photographs. Look for the children in the painting to be part of AHS activities this summer.