Chesterfield Bridge, North Anna, Virginia
May 1864
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 66 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume II" (1866)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 17.7 × 22.9 cm (7 × 9 1/16 in.); Album page: 31.2 × 44.7 cm (12 5/16 × 17 5/8 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196311
Art Historical Context
Captured in May 1864 during the Overland Campaign of the Civil War, *Chesterfield Bridge, North Anna, Virginia* by Timothy O'Sullivan documents a pivotal moment near the North Anna River. Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant were maneuvering against Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and this pontoon bridge—likely a engineering feat for troop crossings—symbolizes the war's logistical ingenuity amid Virginia's rugged terrain. O'Sullivan, a pioneering photographer who worked for Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, danger to record such scenes, offering rare visual testimony to the conflic...
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...