Profile Sketch of a Blindfolded Man (from Sketchbook) 1857 - 1860

This is a pencil sketch of a blindfolded man by John Quincy Adams Ward. We don't know when it was made, but it could have been at any point in his career. Ward was an American sculptor known for civic monuments, which makes this intimate sketch rather intriguing. What does it mean to depict a man robbed of his sight? Is it a statement about the failures of American vision in some respect? The Civil War had ended a few years before Ward began his artistic studies. Was the artist commenting on the moral blindness that had justified slavery? Or perhaps this sketch was a private reference to justice. As a historian, I'd want to explore Ward's personal papers and the cultural context of post-Civil War America to interpret the image's historical meaning. Ultimately, the significance of this work is contingent on social context.