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Do :k <0 Artists of Abraham Lincoln portraits Zimmer Louis Excerpts from newspapers and other sources From the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection ii. 2001. oii oiit NEWS THE CIVIL WAR TODAY A LOST CONFEDERATE PAINTING DISCOVERED IS Conrad Wise Chapman wa—s theroughlittleoilsketchofcard-play surely the most tormente—d HAROLD HOLZER ingsoldiersatleft.Thesubsequent,ex yetalsothemosttalented of pandedpaintingthatprovidedtheba allConfederatesoldier/artists.Hisfa- photographstoekeoutaliving. One sis for the —rest of the lithograph re ther,John, was a celebrated painter ofhisworksdidachieverecognition mainedlost untilnow. and patriotic Virginian who raised duringhislifetime,however.Aview Recently,antiquesdealerLeoOak his son in Rome, Italy As a child of his 3d Kentucky regiment en- discovered the long-lost Chapma Conradwassurroundedbygreatart camped near Corinth, Mississippi, original(center)inanartifact-crowd and by a passion for distant Dixie. became famous when it was repro- edshedinruralOregon.Stillstretch ducedin 1871 byLondon ed on its original Southern pin printmakerLouis Zimmer wood,thecanvasisinscribedonth as a handsome chromo- reverse:"Campofthe3dKentyReg lithograph (bottom right) (Confederate)nearCorinthMiss./Ma CW entitled"ConfederateCamp 11,1862/HandPaintedby Chap LifeduringtheLateAmer- man Comp. 1." Thatdateisabout icanWar." month afterShiloh; Chapman mad Foryears,historianshave hisroughsketchwhilehewasstilln wondered precisely what coveringfromhiswound. originalChapmanpainting Although the newly discovere inspiredtheprint.Theclos- painting needs some cleaning, tr est known rendering was canvas's details remain surprising' vivid. Theuseoflightan When news of the Civil shadow is gripping, ar War reached Europe, the the character studies a youngmanheadedtoVir- evocative. Thestyleisdi giniato takeuparms. Un- tinctivelyChapman's. able toreachthatstate,he Theworkevenincludes settled forenlistment in a self-portraitofthe haunu Kentuckyregiment. artisthimself:theboredse As a soldier he was less tryleaningagainst his rii thansuccessful,wounding atthe extreme left. In pi himself in a freak, unex- ducing the chromolith plained accident after the graph,Zimmeraddedasc April 1862BattleofShiloh. ond sold—ier to keep h Hesensiblydecided to lay company evidentlyhef downtherifleandtakeup the figure Chapman h atoolthatbettersuitedhis chosentorepresenthims talents: thepaintbrush. He lookedtoolonely. CWT wentontopaintsomefine scenes ofhis infantry regiments life Chapmanpaintedanoil incampand then, afterbeing trans- sketchofcardplayersin ferred east, a memorable series of camp(topleft)duringhis studies of the Confederate defenses Confederateservice.When ofCharleston,SouthCarolina.Those hereturnedtoRomehe panels now adorn an entire wall of madetherecentlydiscovered the Museum of the Confederacy in largerpainting(above) Richmond,Virginia. basedonthesketch.That Chapman enjoyed little commer- painting,inturn,inspired cial success as an artist; in his later LouisZimmer'sfamous life, he was reduced to hand-tinting chromolithograph(right). 18 CIVILWARTIMES February1996 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from State of Indiana through the Indiana State Library http://archive.org/details/artistsofabrahazlinc K H r