By Sean Parke
The above painting depicts the top of Evergreen Cemetery as it looked in the summer of 1866. The focus of the painting is clearly the gatehouse of Evergreen Cemetery, one of Cemetery Hill’s most prominent landmarks, and a familiar symbol of the Battle of Gettysburg. It is interesting to note not only what the painting prominently displays, but also what it does not. In the bottom right corner of the panorama is the gate to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. Why would the artist not make this historically significant and patriotic setting the focus of the painting or at least one of his other paintings? What message was the artist trying to convey?
This painting was one of many of the Gettysburg area completed by George Leo Frankenstein. Frankenstein (1825-1911) was a native of Germany and a member of a family of artists who emigrated to Ohio in 1831. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and in the years following the war returned to many of the great battlefields to preserve them in watercolor “before any changes in their features had been made.” By his own accounting Frankenstein traveled over 3,000 miles in visiting Vicksburg, Knoxville, Gettysburg, Atlanta, and several Virginia battlefields. Continue reading “George Leo Frankenstein’s View of Evergreen Cemetery”