Battle of Antietam

DateProbably 1888-1900

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 17 1/2 x 25 1/4in. (44.5 x 64.1cm) and Framed: 20 1/8 x 27 7/8in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958.101.12

DescriptionA battle scene with men firing cannons and rifles at point blank range amid scattered trees in a rolling countryside, a stone bridge prominently shown at middle left.

Artist unidentified.

Modern replacement 1 1/2-inch flat, black-painted frame with a raised outer edge and with a gold-painted molded liner and outer edge beading.
Label TextWhen Edith Gregor Halpert sold this painting to the Folk Art Center in 1958, she attributed it to Swiss-born John Richards (1831-1889), an artist who immigrated to America in 1854, fought in the Civil War, and settled in Germantown (now a section of Philadelphia) following his discharge from the Union army [note1]. Halpert apparently based her attribution on stylistic similarities to other Richards works known at the time.
However, recent comparison with Richards's work has not substantiated the attribution, and the painting's close derivation from an 1888 Kurz & Allison chromolithograph pushes its date of execution considerably past the ca. 1870 date ascribed to other works of Richards's [note 2]. Finally, the single short word at lower right on the canvas (possibly "Seeds") may be the unidentified copyist's name, although no information has been found to verify this.
The painting is nearly identical in size to the image portion of Kurz & Allison's chromolithograph Battle of Antietam, and the oil painter faithfully duplicated nearly every small detail of the print; only tree foliage has been rendered somewhat differently, the painter having daubed on leaf coloration in a loose, impressionistic manner compared to the painstaking individualized treatment seen in the print.
InscribedIn red paint in the lower right corner is a single word that possibly reads: "Seeds".
ProvenanceFound in Philadelphia and purchased by AARFAC from Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY