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Edwin Austin Forbes (1839 – March 6, 1895) was an American landscape painter and etcher who first gained fame during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
for his detailed and dramatic sketches of military subjects, including battlefield combat scenes.
Biography
Forbes was born in
New York, studied under
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (February 5, 1819April 28, 1905) was a British-American artist who is known mostly for his paintings of wildlife. During most of his career, he was associated with the New York City art scene.
Life and career
Tait was b ...
, and began as an animal and landscape painter. During the Civil War, he was special artist for ''
Frank Leslie's Magazine''. Many of the spirited
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s he drew during the conflict were later presented by
General Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
to the government. They are now preserved in the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
at
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
because of their historic value.
After the war, Forbes painted landscape and cattle scenes, among which are "Orange County Pasture" (1879) and "Evening—Sheep Pasture" (1881). In 1877 he was made an honorary member of the
London Etching Club.
He died in 1895 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and is interred in
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...
.
References
:
External links
Life Studies of the Great Army, a digital collection of The University of Alabama Libraries Division of Special CollectionsGreen-Wood Cemetery Burial Search
19th-century American painters
American male painters
American printmakers
People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
American etchers
American war artists
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
1839 births
1895 deaths
Painters from New York City
19th-century war artists
19th-century American male artists
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