On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Studying the Art of War, Fairfax Court-House, [Virginia]
Alexander Gardner American, Scottish
Not on view
Under perfect atmospheric conditions and with receptive subjects, Gardner was able to harness the medium as a means of field portraiture, a tool that could memorialize—just as it did in a studio setting—the weary and the fresh, the snap and the pull of uniforms and accouterments, and the characteristic body language of men at war. Without a trace of irony, Major D. S. Ludlow (sitting on the ground) holds for the camera a copy of the 1862 translation of The Art of War, Antoine-Henri Jomini’s definitive treatise on warfare and military strategy, used as a standard reference by both Union and Confederate generals. Military historians today believe that Baron de Jomini’s outdated theories led to massive casualties during the Civil War.