Conrad Wise Chapman

Conrad Wise Chapman
Born (1842-02-14)February 14, 1842
Washington, DC, USA
Died December 10, 1910(1910-12-10) (aged 68)
Hampton, Virginia
Nationality American
Known for Painting
Military career
Allegiance  Confederate States of America
Service/branch  Confederate States Army
Years of service 1861 – 1865
Rank Ordnance Sergeant[1]
Unit
Battles/wars

American Civil War

Conrad Wise Chapman (1842–1910)[2] was a soldier and an artist, mainly known for his paintings of Confederate battlements surrounding Charleston Harbor.

Early life

Chapman was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Europe where his father, John Gadsby Chapman, was working as an artist.

Career

In 1861, he returned to America and enlisted in Company D, Third Kentucky Infantry, Confederate. He was wounded in Shiloh along with seeing action in Mississippi and Louisiana, before a transfer to the 46th Virginia Infantry at the request of his father to Henry Alexander Wise.[3] Over the next 10 months, he also served with the 59th Virginia Infantry, known as the Wise Legion or Wise Brigade, with both the 46th and 59th at Chaffin's Farm on the James River in Henrico County.[notes 1]

In September 1863, the Wise Brigade was ordered south to take part in the defence of Charleston, South Carolina. Chapman was commissioned to create thirty one paintings of the city's defenses by Brig. Gen. Thomas Jordan, chief of staff to commanding Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard. This was part of a campaign by Beauregard to increase support for his ideas about the defense of the harbor in the Confederate government.[4] Chapman served in the city from early September 1863 to March 1864.[3] He intended to paint the entire series in Charleston, but having received word of his mother's illness, Chapman was granted furlough in April 1864 and left for Rome, Italy to visit his family. It is there that he painted 25 works—with five also done by his father—from sketches he made in Charleston.[2][5]

After the end of the war, unable to reconcile to the Confederacy's loss, Conrad traveled to Mexico, where he painted a series of views of the Valley of Mexico.[6] He also spent time in France and England. In 1898, his entire collection of paintings went on view at the Union League Club in New York, where they attracted attention, but no buyers.[7] He then moved his family to Richmond where the following year he sold 31 paintings to then Confederate Memorial Literary Society, which later became the Museum of the Confederacy and is now the American Civil War Museum.[6][7]

Conrad created art while he was in active duty during the Civil War. While there were several artists on the Union side who captured the war in painting, which were also active, this was not the case on the Confederate side.[5] His works may be the only set of battle subjects painted by a Confederate army artist during the war.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Chapman, Conrad W.". Soldier Details - The Civil War. National Park Service. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Chapman Paintings Portfolio - About the Artists". The American Civil War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 Bassham, Ben L. (1998). Conrad Wise Chapman: Artist & Soldier of the Confederacy. Kent State University Press. pp. 88–89, 113. ISBN 0873385934.
  4. ↑ "Chapman Paintings Portfolio - The Man behind the mission". The American Civil War Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Harvey, Eleanor Jones (2012). The Civil War and American Art. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 130–146. ISBN 978-0-937311-98-1.
  6. 1 2 "Father and Son: The Works of John Gadsby Chapman and Conrad Wise Chapman". Lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  7. 1 2 Harvey, Eleanor Jones. "The South’s Forgotten Painter". Opinionator. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2016.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Later in the war, it would be the site of the Battle of Chaffin's Farm.

Further reading

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