Minerva Teichert: TITLE OF LIBERTY

 

THE STORY:

This painting shows the Nephite military leader Captain Moroni rallying his men.  The Nephites faced a civil war led by Amalickiah.  When Moroni learns Amalickiah is conspiring to become king, he ripped his coat and wrote on it:  “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.  And he fastened on his headplate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins, . . . [and] he went forth among the people, waving the rent part of his garment in the air, that all might see the writing . . . . Behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins” (Alma 46: 12-13, 19, 21).

ANALYSIS:

In this painting, Moroni is framed by four soldiers whose actions echo his.  The two soldiers closest to Moroni rend their coats, and the two on the edges write their oaths on their torn garments, imitating what their commander has already done.  This is an example of the use of progression and stages to reinforce themes in Teichert’s work: we see the subject of the painting in three different stages of action.   

Several of the soldiers have young, unbearded faces, reminding us of Helamen's stripling warriors. The figure on the far right looks feminine, reminding the viewer that women suffer--and fight--in wars, too.

Captain Moroni waves the Title of Liberty from the center of the painting.  The flag is red, white, and blue because it is “symbolic of the emblems of Israel and therefore was an appropriate rallying point for the Nephites" (John W. Welch and Doris R. Dant, The Book of Mormon Paintings of Minerva Teichert (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997) 116). Although the scriptures say Captain Moroni tore his coat to make the flag, the fabric is far too large to have come from a coat. Teichert's use of disproportionate size indicates importance, not strict accuracy, here.

The setting Teichert chose for this painting also reinforces the message of the title of liberty, that the Nephites are fighting for their God and their religion.  Moroni stands “at the top of a stairway that is flanked by two images of the feathered serpent, with startling turquoise eyes.  The architecture suggests Moroni is rallying his people at a temple.”

PERSONAL IMPACT: This painting's colors and composition have always reminded me of the French Revolution. Whether that was Teichert's intention, it reminds me that wars have been fought for centuries to uphold a people's values.

I love that Teichert paints the base of this call to war as a temple.