The New-York Historical Society When the painting of "John Brown's Blessing" was finished in 1867 it, too, created a stir. It was later sent to the Vienna Exposition and elsewhere. It caused John Greenleaf Whittier to change his poem "John Brown," and to send the manuscript of the changed version to the artist. The picture is historically correct, showing the Virginia National Guards in their Continental uniforms. The representation of the guard standing behind John Brown caused Murat Halstead, the editor, to ask Noble if he had been present at the execution. Answered in the negative, Halstead exclaimed: "But that is an exact likeness of the lieutenant who stood there. I was there and saw him." The figure was actually painted from a model whom the artist chose to express his personal conception of the young officer. The figure of John Brown was painted from photographs and is a magnificent likeness. This painting is now on exhibition in the Museum of the Society. "The Price of Blood," depicting the selling of the mulatto son of a land owner to a slave dealer, was shown at the National Academy in New York in 1868, and received a gold medal when it was exhibited later at the Cincinnati Exposition. It was bought and sent to Glasgow. In 1868, a group of prominent men in Cincinnati decided that the city should have a first-class art school in connection with McMicken University, with a first-class artist at its head. As his subject paintings and portraits had won Thomas S. Noble a wide reputation, they were more than willing to accept the suggestion of George Ward Nichols to invite him to the new school. Colonel Nichols had been his close friend in Paris, when the two students, one of music and the other of art, had roomed together, and Nichols had returned to America to head the Cincinnati College of Music. The art committee for the University, which consisted of Colonel Nichols, Joseph Longworth, Larz Anderson, Rufus King and others, delegated Mr. Anderson to go to New York to speak for them. — 118 —