[The Wilderness Battlefield]
1864
![[The Wilderness Battlefield] by Unknown](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/the-wilderness-battlefield-306598.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 5 1/16 × 3 1/16 in. (12.8 × 7.8 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.944.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the somber aftermath of one of the American Civil War's bloodiest clashes with *[The Wilderness Battlefield]*, a poignant albumen silver print captured in 1864. This haunting landscape depicts the tangled, smoke-scarred woods of Virginia's Wilderness, site of the brutal May 1864 battle between Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces and Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Over two days, dense underbrush fueled uncontrolled fires that trapped wounded soldiers, resulting in staggering casualties—around 29,000 combined—without a decisive victor, marking a grim...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...