Blandford Church, Petersburg, Virginia
April 1865
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 85 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume II" (1866)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 17.7 × 22.5 cm (7 × 8 7/8 in.); Album page: 31.1 × 44.6 cm (12 1/4 × 17 9/16 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196221
Art Historical Context
In the shadowed aftermath of the Civil War's Siege of Petersburg, Timothy O'Sullivan's *Blandford Church, Petersburg, Virginia* ( 1865) offers a stark, intimate glimpse into a pivotal moment. Captured as plate 85 in Alexander Gardner's landmark *Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume II* (1866), thisen print documents the historic Blandford Church, which had served as a Confederate hospital and burial ground amid the Union's grueling campaign. Petersburg's fall in late March 1865 paved the way for Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, marking the war's end just weeks after O'Sullivan's...
About the Artist
Timothy O'Sullivan · 1840–1882
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840–1882) emerged as one of America's pioneering photographers during a transformative era. His early life remains sparsely documented, with records suggesting he was born either in New York City or Ireland before immigrating young, possibly growing up on Staten Island. As a teenager, he apprenticed under Mathew Brady at his Fulton Street gallery in New York, mastering w...