Civil War Art – N. C. Wyeth

19 01 2009

As so many folks have stopped by here recently looking for N. C. Wyeth artwork, I thought I’d post this little gallery. I’ll add to it as I find more. It’s hard not to wax nostalgic when I see these. Like many of you, I spent a good deal of time in my youth staring at Wyeth’s illustrations in Treasure Island and Kidnapped! Click on the thumbnails for larger images.

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Date : January 19, 2009
Tags: Articles, Civil War Art
Categories : Articles, Civil War Art

15 responses

20 01 2009: cenantua (08:38:50) :

Harry, I had no idea that he did most of these. I knew about the Jackson print and the one that you mentioned in an earlier post (fourth from the right above), but I had no idea about the rest. That one that is second from the right looks quite nice. -Robert

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20 01 2009: Harry Smeltzer (09:05:22) :

Robert,

There are more, but I haven’t found good copies on line yet. The second one from the left above is called “The Vidette”, and the second from the right is “The Bloody Angle”. Note the resemblance of the man in the foreground to the guy in the North Carolina monument at Gettysburg?

Wyeth illustrated at least two Civil War novels, “The Long Roll” and “Cease Firing”. I’ll keep looking for other images and will update this post as I find them.

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20 01 2009: historythruthelookingglass (09:09:03) :

My favorites have always been the “Robin Hood” shots — he defined how I imagined those characters early in life!!

Take care,
Aly

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20 01 2009: Harry Smeltzer (09:55:23) :

The one I remember is the Merry Men holding Robin up in his sickbed so he can shoot an arrow out of the window. Recreated nicely in the Sean Connery flick “Robin and Marian”. That Audrey Hepburn was one classy broad.

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20 01 2009: caswain01 (13:34:17) :

Uncle Billy’s portrait is the best of the lot IMO.

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20 01 2009: Harry Smeltzer (16:28:57) :

Craig,

Cump looks loaded for bear, don’t he?

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21 01 2009: cenantua (14:11:41) :

I’m still trying to figure out what mountain Jackson is on in the print. Considering the level of the cloud behind him, I’m convinced he somehow flanked Pa., N.Y. and New England and was poised to strike toward Boston from Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. However, I’ve yet to see a postcard showing Sorrel with a “I climbed Mt. Washington” sticker slapped on the rump.

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22 01 2009: Harry Smeltzer (11:06:43) :

Robert,

Are you thinking something from the Hudson Valley school? Is that William Cullen Bryant on a rocky crag in the background?

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22 01 2009: cenantua (11:27:14) :

Harry,

Egad! I didn’t think of it that way, but, by George, you may be on to something else here! Hold on, let me get my quilting magnifying glass… perhaps that is Bryant back there!

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22 01 2009: Harry Smeltzer (11:47:48) :

I’m no art historian, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last week – and more important, I just read a bit on Bryant and Thomas Cole and the Asher Durand painting Kindred Spirits in “Throes of Democracy”, which at this pace I’ll be reading for the rest of the year. It’s a case of the author being way, way smarter than the reader. I run into that a lot. But it’s a great book for a thread puller like me!

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22 01 2009: cenantua (14:26:42) :

Darn that Holiday Inn Express! People keep bringing it up and I keep realizing I paid too much for my education when I could have just gone to a HIE to save a great deal!

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29 09 2009: Darrell Combs (14:30:29) :

Excellent site. Respectful comments by all concerned and some thought provoking ones as well. Thanks for the effort and discussion of illustrative art.

It would have been fun to see what Civil War artists who sketched in the field could have done with oils after the war.

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29 09 2009: Harry Smeltzer (15:50:34) :

Darrell,

See Winslow Homer.

Harry

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3 11 2009: Three Years Blogging « Bull Runnings (02:44:56) :

[...] post written this year has been Civil War Art – Howard Pyle with 711, followed closely by Civil War Art – N. C. Wyeth with 686. Seems like a [...]

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7 11 2009: Chris Evans (11:39:34) :

I never knew about some of these other Civil War works by Wyeth. I really like the battle scenes and the one with Sherman is excellent also. I have never seen that before.
Thanks for posting these,
Chris

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About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings. Here you will find my thoughts on the processes of my digital history project, which is primarily concerned with the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You will only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

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