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Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg

Timothy H. O'Sullivan American, born Ireland
Printer Alexander Gardner American, Scottish
1863
Not on view
This photograph of the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg appears in the two-volume opus Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War (1865-66). Gardner's publication is egalitarian. Offended by Brady's habit of obscuring the names of his field operators behind the deceptive credit "Brady," Gardner specifically identified each of the eleven photographers in the publication; forty-four of the one hundred photographs are credited to Timothy O'Sullivan. Gardner titled the plate Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Battlefield of Gettysburg. But the photograph, its commemorative title notwithstanding, relates a far more common story: six Union soldiers lie dead, face up, stomachs bloated, their pockets picked and boots stolen. As Gardner described the previous plate, aptly titled The Harvest of Death, this photograph conveys "the blank horror and reality of war, in opposition to its pageantry."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg
  • Artist: Timothy H. O'Sullivan (American, born Ireland, 1840–1882)
  • Printer: Alexander Gardner (American, Glasgow, Scotland 1821–1882 Washington, D.C.)
  • Date: 1863
  • Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
  • Dimensions: 17.8 x 22.7 cm (7 x 8 15/16 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005
  • Object Number: 2005.100.502.1 (37)
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

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Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Volume 1, Alexander Gardner American, Scottish, Albumen silver prints from glass negatives
Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Volume 1
Multiple artists/makers
1863
U.S. Gunboat "Commodore Perry" on Pamunkey River, Timothy H. O'Sullivan American, born Ireland, Albumen silver print from glass negative
U.S. Gunboat "Commodore Perry" on Pamunkey River
Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Mathew B. Brady
1861–65
U.S. Gunboat "Commodore Perry" on Pamunkey River, Timothy H. O'Sullivan American, born Ireland, Albumen silver print from glass negative
U.S. Gunboat "Commodore Perry" on Pamunkey River
Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Mathew B. Brady
1861–65
Confederate Works at Marye's Heights
Timothy H. O'Sullivan
1864
U.S. Gunboat "Commodore Perry" on Pamunkey River
Timothy H. O'Sullivan
Mathew B. Brady
1861–65

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Timothy H. O'Sullivan - Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg - The Metropolitan Museum of Art