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Grant and His Generals


After the Norwegian artist Ole Peter Hansen Balling had sketched President Lincoln at the White House in the fall of 1864, he obtained permission “to pass to Grant” for the purpose of painting life portraits of leading Union generals. Balling joined General Grant at City Point, Virginia, during the campaign against Richmond and spent five weeks there sketching officers in the field. Philip Sheridan was painted while in the Shenandoah Valley; William T. Sherman and George Henry Thomas were done in Washington after the end of the war. The image of George Armstrong Custer, second from the left, is thought to be the only life portrait made of him.


Ole Peter Hansen Balling (1823–1906)
Oil on canvas, 1865
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
gift of Mrs. Harry Newton Blue in memory of her husband, Harry Newton Blue (1893–1925), who served as an officer of the regular U.S. Army, 1917–1925

 

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