General Ulysses S. Grant on Horseback with Union Army and Cavalry

ALFRED W. BOISSEAU (French, 1823-1901)

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General Ulysses S. Grant on Horseback with Union Army and Cavalry

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Oil on canvas

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Signed and dated 1895 lower right

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Size: 25 x 30 in.

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Note: Boisseau was born in Paris in 1823 and first visited North America in 1848. He spent time in New Orleans, New York and Cleveland. In the early 1860s he moved to Montreal where he would reside for over twenty years. He taught advanced free-hand drawing in the Council for Arts and Manufactures, Montreal, in 1887. He eventually left Montreal and spent his later years in Buffalo, NY, where he died. According to the date of this painting, Boisseau would have painted this representation of the Civil War while in Buffalo. Boisseau was also a portrait painter and painted a portrait of Ulysses S. Grant on another occasion. This painting shares similar compositional elements to an illustration titled "Headquarters in the Field" by Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919). Gaul's version shows General Grant on Horseback in the foreground with his cavalry officers behind him and rebel fire in the distance. Gaul's version shows General Grant on Horseback in the foreground with his cavalry officers behind him, and slain officers in the left foreground with rebel fire in the distance, whereas Boisseau's version shows a Union regiment in the left foreground.