ART WIKI
The Continentals, Frank Blackwell Mayer, 1875
Frank Blackwell MayerAmerican, 1827–1899

The Continentals

1875 · Painting · 57 × 46.7 cm

Can I see it?

Yes, on view now

Where is “The Continentals” now? Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 14B, Washington, D.C. Yes, on view now. Checked September 25, 2026.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Washington, D.C., United States

RoomLuce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 14B

Closed· opens at 11:30 AM

On public display.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum
On the mapMuseum page

About the painting

Frank Blackwell Mayer painted this scene of Continental soldiers on the centennial of the battle of Bunker Hill, the first great battle of the Revolutionary War. In 1876 he submitted it to the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, an event that celebrated the founding of the nation. The painting was highly praised and became so popular that other artists copied it enthusiastically. The cheerful image of soldiers marching through the snow to the beat of a drum and the sound of a flute reinforced the glowing myth of the war, inspiring a renewed patriotism on the nation’s one hundredth birthday. (Page, “Francis Blackwell Mayer,” The Magazine Antiques, February 1976)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Details

Accession number
1926.6.8

What it shows

SoldiersRoadDrumsOccupationsFigure groupHistoryFluteLandscape

In the catalog

PaintingsOilAmerican paintingRealismImpressionism19th century

Sources

More by Frank Blackwell Mayer

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Leisure and Labor, Frank Blackwell Mayer, 1858

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1858 · Smithsonian American Art Museum

In the same room · Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 14B, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Museum page
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Unidentified

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attributed to Thomas Chambers

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The Blockmaker, Edgar Melville Ward, n.d.

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On the same theme · Soldiers

All works on the theme
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