Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Gaul, Gilbert William (1855-1919) [Oil painting of General Ulysses S. Grant on horseback overlooking a battlefield]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02201 Author/Creator: Gaul, Gilbert William (1855-1919) Place Written: s.l. Type: Painting Date: circa 1875 Pagination: 1 art original : oil on board : framed ; 71 x 94 cm. Order a Copy

Depicts Grant writing in a notebook while overlooking a battlefield. Several Confederate soldiers lay dead and dying in the foreground. Other Union leaders confer on horseback. Completed in black, white, gray, and brown. Signed by the artist in the lower right corner.

This painting was originally hung in the offices of Harper's Weekly, and was published as an illustration for their Civil War Series. Gaul is noted for his portrayals of the American west, the Civil War, the census of 1890, and of women and children. In the 1870s, he began his career in art at the National Academy of Design in New York. In 1882, he was elected as a member of the National Academy.

Gaul, Gilbert William, 1855-1919
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

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