Flora Fitten Donnelly’s bust in the style of a death mask—a commemorative form of portraiture—depicts Alfred Sommers, who had been enslaved as a young man during the Civil War. The artist developed a nurturing friendship with Sommers in the last years of his life. Donnelly wrote: “I became interested in him, seeing him standing about in front of the shop at 18th Street. I never saw him ask anyone for anything, but I knew the shop people now and then gave him food. I secured a pension for him, which eased his last days.”