The Grand Review. 1990-1991. 48x96.


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The Grand Review marked the celebration of the end of the Civil War when over 150,000 men marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House on May 23rd and 24th, 1865. When the parade was over the men of both Grant's and Sherman's armies soon after turned in their weapons and went home. It was the greatest parade ever held in the Nation's Capital. The artist endeavored to make this painting the most authentic image of the parade in existence. All store signs and posters are authentic. At the left, a company of Zouaves is represented. Walt Whitman, who wrote extensively about the parade, faces the viewer. From a center window of Willard's Hotel, Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania cheers on the Pennsylvania Boys. At the far left is a prostitute to the left of wounded soldiers and ragamuffin children. Behind them is Thomas Hill Watts in a white suit. Watts was one of the founders of the Sanitary Commission, forerunner of the Red Cross. In the distance, a cloud of dust is rising from the incredible tramping of soldiers' feet and horses' hoofs.

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Several of the artist's GWU students posed for the painting in the artist's studio. The costumes were all authentic.A salt print of the Review from a rare album in the Library of Congress.
Frank Leslie's weekly woodcut version of the Grand Review.A painitng by J.E. Taylor, an often reproduced but inaccurate image of the parade painted a decade after the event.


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