John Edwin Forbes (1839-1895) - Union Drummer Boy

24.5" x 23" framed. This is a wonderful period frame. Sherwoods tag on the back shows the drawing for this painting sold for $12,000 at auction in 1990. Acquired from a private collection in Arizona. Forbes was born in New York City. He became a Civil War reportorial artist for Leslie's Illustrated newspaper in 1861. In the Army of the Potomac, he was one of the youngest and one of the few artists who covered the entire war. The majority of his illustrations showed the mundane life of the soldiers, but he also depicted battle scenes including the Second Battle of Bull Run, and Hooker's Charge at Antiedam. From his pencil sketches, he made many large paintings after the war. He later did a series of detailed etchings, which he published in 1891 as "Thirty Years After: An Artist's Story of the Great War." A weekly series, published by Army Life Publishing Co. in New York, began on April 5, 1894. It was a large format, showing a written history with about 300 illustrations by Edwin Forbes, who also copyrighted the publication. When he was younger, Forbes was a student of Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, and from 1861 to 1882, he exhibited at the National Academy of Design.