A Sharpshooter's Last Sleep, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

July 1863

Alexander Gardner

Associated Names
Alexander Gardner

Artist, American, born Scotland, 1821 - 1882

This is a black-and-white photograph of a war-torn landscape with a fallen figure on the ground. The scene is characterized by rough terrain of rocks and muddy, uneven earth. In the center of the image, a figure is lying flat among the grass and dirt, with a gun laying on the ground next to them. They have light skin, dark hair, and a dark jacket open to show a white shirt. There are many shapes in the background that could be other bodies or the remnants of clothing or belongings.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    albumen silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon and Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    image: 17.7 × 22.9 cm (6 15/16 × 9 in.)
    support: 30.6 x 41.8 cm (12 1/16 x 16 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2006.133.73

  • Series Title

    Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Washington: Phillip and Solomons, 1866

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Mary and Dan Solomon; purchase and gift to NGA, 2006.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2019

  • The Eye of the Sun: Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2019, unnumbered catalogue.

Inscriptions

in letterpress, across bottom under image on support: Alex. Gardner, Photographer, Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1866, by A. Gardner, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia. 511 7th Street Washington. / A Sharpshooter's Last Sleep, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. / No. 40. July, 1863.; on verso, by unknown hand, upper left in graphite: AP. 37; bottom center in graphite: AG/1188

Wikidata ID

Q64032526

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