GARDNER'S PHOTOGRAPHIC SKETCH BOOK OF THE WAR, VOLUME II — ORIGINAL ALBUMEN PRINT: “Army Forge Scene, in Front of Petersburg" — Plate No. 77

GARDNER'S PHOTOGRAPHIC SKETCH BOOK OF THE WAR, VOLUME II — ORIGINAL ALBUMEN PRINT: “Army Forge Scene, in Front of Petersburg

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A wonderfully evocative and humanizing original albumen photograph from the Siege of Petersburg, capturing the day-to-day life of the Union Army in the field during the summer of 1864. The photograph shows a group of military personnel preparing to shoe a horse in the camp's temporary blacksmith shop — a field forge constructed of rough timber and thatched brush, with soldiers and laborers gathered around the anvil and bellows in the heat of a Virginia summer. The image offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the essential support operations that kept the Army of the Potomac moving during one of the war's longest and most grueling sieges.

The negative was made by David Knox, an American photographer born in Scotland in 1821, one of Alexander Gardner's trusted field operators during the Petersburg campaign. Knox produced a remarkable series of images documenting camp life and military operations during the siege, several of which appear in the Sketch Book alongside this plate. The positive was printed by Alexander Gardner at his Washington gallery.

This photograph is Plate No. 77 from Volume II of Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, one of the most celebrated photographic publications of the 19th century, with examples held in the permanent collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Amon Carter Museum, and the Library of Congress.

The mount bears the complete original printed imprint: "Negative by David Knox / Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1865, by A. Gardner, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia / Positive by A. Gardner, 511 7th St., Washington / Army Forge Scene, in Front of Petersburg / No. 77 / August, 1864." All text fully intact — the hallmark of an unaltered, untrimmed original example.

Presented in an archival double mat and housed in a handsome period-style burl walnut finish hardwood frame with UV-protective acrylic glazing.

 

Negative by: David Knox

Positive by: Alexander Gardner

Series: Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Vol. II, No. 77 Location & Date: In Front of Petersburg, Virginia, August 1864

Publisher: Philip & Solomons, Washington, D.C.

Copyright: Entered 1865, District Court of the District of Columbia

Medium: Original albumen print on period paper mount Framed dimensions: 18 x 16.5 inches

Condition: Good; age-consistent toning

Archival framing: UV-protective plexiglass, acid-free matting       [ss][ph:L]

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