McLean's House, Appomattox Court-House, Virginia
April 1865
Medium
Albumen print, pl. 99 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Volume II" (1866)
Dimensions
Image: 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
196230
Art Historical Context
In the quiet village of Appomattox Court House Virginia, on April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant effectively ending the American Civil War. Timothy O'Sullivan, a pioneering photographer who documented the conflict for the Union Army under Mathew Brady, captured this historic site just days later. "McLean's House" depicts the unassuming parlor where the surrender terms were signed inside Wilmer McLean's home—a place he famously hoped would stay out of the war, only for it to become its symbolic close. This albumen silver print, plate 99 from ...
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...