[The Wilderness Battlefield]
1864
![[The Wilderness Battlefield] by Unknown](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/the-wilderness-battlefield-306613.webp)
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 5 in. × 3 9/16 in. (12.7 × 9.1 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
2005.100.944.19
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the somber aftermath of one of the Civil War's bloodiest clashes with *[The Wilderness Battlefield]*, a poignant 1864 albumen print capturing the tangled, smoke-scarred landscape of Virginia's Wilderness. Taken amid the chaos of General Ulysses S. Grant'sland Campaign against Robert E. Lee in May 1864, this image documents a brutal encounter where dense underbrush fueled uncontrollable fires, claiming thousands of lives in a fog of confusion and carnage. As a rare surviving photograph from the front lines, it offers a stark, unvarnished glimpse into the war's devastation, transformin...
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...