Liberty Knighting a Soldier

A soldier shown from behind kneels before an allegorical representation of Liberty, who knights him with a sword. The subject and composition of this print derives from Edwin Blashfield’s 1919 Lady Columbia Wound Certificate, awarded to World War I soldiers wounded in action.

Robert Riggs served in World War I in a Red Cross medical unit based in the United States and then France. He observed and made pencil drawings of countless wounded soldiers brought in for treatment.

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