In A Visit from the Old Mistress, how is the Comparisons discussed?
Scholars have observed that the composition of A Visit from the Old Mistress is nearly identical to that in Homer's earlier work Prisoners from the Front, wherein a band of recently captured Confederate soldiers are shown standing defiantly in the face of their Union captor. This comparison has been used to suggest that A Visit is, like Prisoners, a confrontation scene, implying that the former slaves stand up (or, in one case, pointedly refuse to stand) and boldly face their old mistress, who no longer wields the power she once maintained over their lives.
The interiors for both A Visit from the Old Mistress and Sunday Morning in Virginia were very likely composed simultaneously, as they both appear to be set in the same room. The subjects in each painting, however, appear to differ.
Prisoners from the Front