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An American Military Artist Author(s): George Parsons Lathrop and Gilbert Gaul Source: The Quarterly Illustrator, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1893), pp. 235-240 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25581832 . Accessed: 24/05/2014 15:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 194.29.185.91 on Sat, 24 May 2014 15:04:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

An American Military Artist

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Page 1: An American Military Artist

An American Military ArtistAuthor(s): George Parsons Lathrop and Gilbert GaulSource: The Quarterly Illustrator, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1893), pp. 235-240Published by:Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25581832 .

Accessed: 24/05/2014 15:04

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

http://www.jstor.org

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Page 2: An American Military Artist

D - 44

firowx a pawzfing by iZbert Gau.. u s H E A PAIN at

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Page 3: An American Military Artist

The Quarterly Illustrator

Vol. I. October, November, and December, 1893 No. 4

AN AMAIERICAN iMILITARY ARTIST.

By GEORGE 1'ARSONS LATHROP.

(kVit1 original illustrations by Gilbert. Gau,l.)

I

i

A

"' TORCH-BEAREIRS.

GILBERT GAUL-one of the best knowvn of our American illustrators as wvell as of lpainters in oil, who has gained renowvn in the treatnmenit of twvo almost distinct classes of figure suLb jects-muLst have been borni, one would thinik, wvitlh a brush in his lhanid andcl a l)encil behinid his ear, so clever is lhe in the lhanidling of those artistic imllemenits, andI so natural to him seemiis their use.

He began painting at a very early age; ancd it was a good while ago that I saw the first of his pictures, which comes back to me as havin-g made an impression that has not since been effaced. He was then already a skilled exhibitor at the

Academy. This picture (the title of which I cannot give with certainty, though it may have been somethilng like "The Color Guard") represented an episode of stub

18-.~~~~~-'d,- (

WI NTEIR SI'ORT."

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Page 4: An American Military Artist

236 The Quarterly Illustrator born fi ghtin C in some

battle of thle Civil ANWar. A birokein Ini e

or rollou) of Unlion

soldielrs, evidently hiarc l)ressed, w as

seeni facing-if I

recollect rightly

th1e spectator, whlio thluts occul)ied the

positioni of the skLIp

p) osecl attac kin g

force. 'IThe attack w-as niot shown inl

the lpicture, or at most was barely in

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~V'

AfIX

NIGHT IN CAMP.I

dicated. The defeniclers were the whole subject: they onily were placed before us.

WA NNELCONIE DRAUGHT.

powder-staiMed, resolLIte, firing, re loading, or graspinig their wveaponis in exlpectancv of closer combat, andcl evidenitly determined to sell their lives dear-ly or retreat onily when

overpowrered. From the presenta tion of this one sicle of the fight, the

other side could be realized easily anid with great intensity. The pic tLire, therefore, in addlition to its

merits of drawing, painting, vivid ness, and clharacter, wNas a fine in stanice of imaginiative power and

also of the power of excitiing imaginiation in the beholder. If I refer now- to a poemn of

mine, it is as a connectinag link

between M\lr. GauLl's paintinig anld lis black-and-whAite illus

trative wN-ork. This ioem,

Martlhv Virinia's Hand,'

for which he malde a draw-1in(g

appeared in The Centurv Mao

azinie somiie thlee years sinice. It related ani actuLal incidenit of the war; how- a Confederate

solclier was fouLnid dead in a

stril) of w oocls on the battle

field of Anitietam, grasping a

letter in wNhich hiis wife hacl told of the birth of a baby and

had madle a tracinig of the I"liE SHIARP-SHIOOTER."

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Page 5: An American Military Artist

f ;~~~~g

I'kC ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ '--~~-,

"ON THIE TRAI.

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Page 6: An American Military Artist

238 The Quarterly Illustrator

chilcl's handl on1 the palper. I n

his illustration MAir. Gaul cle

picted the sol(dier I-ling dlead

there, neglected, a mi d t he trees, niear a mossy rockl; the

tanuled rootlets anicl thicl, simiall branches, the gliits of

sunlllit, the shattered guLni,

and the leaves anid twigs flLiug down about him bI) a shiell which hiad bUlrst there, all acldl iocg tc) the nrimness anicl pathos for vhich. hiis war scenles are

remark able.

Buit, as hias bee hiiitecl, r. I HE W\ATER SELLER.

Ga.l is by nio imieans conifined to this sort of thieme, andl is, inldeecl, distiguisled inl two " linies," as we somiietimes call tlhem. It is truie, I thlilnk, that hie hias by niattur-e a special penchwa/u for these severe aincl sald -et highly p)icturesqlue ain(d stirring reali ties of armieed combat. Yet he is also extremely apt and grap)hic in the clelineationi of

more leaceful domiiestic scenies involving botlh earniestniess andcl humiiior, brighltenedl biv the costuime and the romatnce of a century's anitiqulity, or belonogin1g to the

T E C'FD E

T E CONFEDERATE RAFT.

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Page 7: An American Military Artist

The Quarterly Illustrator 2 39

"rr

SCOUTING.

v igOr-OUS out-door aind inl-door

reality of to-day. Sel cldomi does one find the genius for reproducing militaryr phases uLnited with so versatile a faculty as 'Mr. Gauil's for pic tulrino(, inl his illustrations,

gliminipses of daily huimani life in a variety of suirrotiuidinigs.

Meissonier prided himlself

upon lis military achieve

milenits-oni canvas; but hiis militry Ipieces lhacl not the true war-like qtuality; they nlerely nmultipliecl the )0ol ished little meni of his inlter-ior

scenies, ind transferred them out-of -doors. Nor- (lid hIis

initeriors " conltaii nl much di

-ersity of htimani traits, or

geniuline feelingr andcl humliior,

alth oughLI they ofteni had a spice of

tempered wit.

It is the ability of 'Mr. Gaul to

portray tliings opposite ini themselves,

anid not only to draw the conitrast,

hUt also to emphasize it byI his treat

miienit, whliclh gives him a mastery of

<,rewi,-cltat is, of dealinlg w itlh sub

jects that mayb e rated as exemplify inig a " species," a ' kindcl," or to take

aniotlher word, " the characteristic."

He kniows how to seize a clharacter

in many of its bearinigs at once, anid

to give it the proper accenit.

The miianniier ini wh11ich hie uses lancl

scape detail in solmie of lis work is

also very elfective. Eviclenitly the

resuLlt of car-eftul stuLCy, and, like many

of lis touclhes in the elaboratinig of

figuLres, sulbtile in resoLurces of art, it

never loses that energy anid solidity

wh-liclh pervacle hiis illustrationis. See,

for exail)ple, lis dravingMs for " Per

sonial Impressions of N'icaragua,"

wvhere hie accompaniedl hiimlself with

the l)en, sup)lying hlis own- text. 9E

"TOP OF THE CLIFF"X

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Page 8: An American Military Artist

240 The Quarterly Illustrator

Th'lle " Parrot Sellers at Cor-inito,' in thlat little

groul) of sketches, is very strikingi n illts com

biniationi of boats, oUtspread bird-winigs, the

Wveird hoocldel figur- e of a -oiiain stanidino

uprlight, and the swirl anid stretclh of mioviniol

w7aters. So, too, onie may fin-ld a g(ood deal of

lis various skill in his lictorial COit-il)tbtiOlls

to Thoimias Bailey Aldriclh's " Old Portsmiiouth

Profiles."

MIr. Gaul's wvork, ofteni spirited, is always

forcible andcl initerestinl(. Moreover, while by no miieanis a pvose/- in art or given over to arly

ED7

s I) e c ia 1

f ashio 1i

or school, lhe hias a

ha a p p Y

faculty of

psilig his A VEST INDIAN MOTHER."

sU)bjects fromll Unexpected points of view, brill illn ouLt tlheir valLue at onice by a bold str-oke,

ofteni in a way' wVhich at first olle oVUld hardlv have thlouLghlt hle VwoldCI venture, yet a1 way that

proves to be niatuLral as w-ell as effective.

R."~ ~~~~~~~~~~.

"A PLAIN NARRATIVE."

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