Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Battle of Vicksburg |
Place of Origin |
Mississippi, Vicksburg |
Artist or Maker |
Taylor, James Earl (1839-1901) |
Date |
1878 |
Materials |
Watercolor on Paper |
Dimension Details |
Height: 25" Width: 32 1/4" |
Description |
This view depicts the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, also called the Siege of Vicksburg, the culmination of a long land and naval campaign by Union forces to capture a key strategic position during the American Civil War. A chaotic fight amongst soldiers on horseback is shown on the bluffs to the right as steamboats fire toward the fray from the river. A lone figure in a rowboat is seen on the water at the base of cliffs on the left. The painting is inscribed: To R.L. Taylor / by his Brother James / Dec. 25 1878. James Earl Taylor was born in Cincinnati and graduated from Notre Dame at the age of 16. After he enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, he sent his battlefield drawings to Frank Leslie’ Illustrated Newspaper and was hired as a "special artist" when he left the army in 1863. For the remainder of the war, he traveled with the Union Army in Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina focusing particularly on panoramas of battles and the settings of the war. Leslie’s published 61 of his wartime drawings. |
Provenance |
Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, New York Sold to The Dietrich American Foundation, 1980 |
Object Name |
Watercolor |
Object ID |
7.7.1212 |
Search Terms |
paintings |