Paul Philippoteaux mk195
1870-1875
Oil on canvas
18x25
Grant at Fort Donelson artist, born in Paris, France, 27 January, 1846
was a French artist. He is best known for a cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg.Paul Philippoteaux was born in Paris, the son of the French artist Henri Emmanuel Felix Philippoteaux. His education was at the Coll??ge Henri-IV, the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and in the studio of his father, as well as the studios of Leon Cogniet, and Alexander Cabanal. He became interested in cycloramas and in collaboration with his father created The Defence of the Fort d'Issy in 1871. Other works included Taking of Plevna (Turko-Russian War), the Passage of the Balkans, The Belgian Revolution of 1830, Attack in the Park, The Battle of Kars, The Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and the Derniere Sortie.He was commissioned by a group of Chicago investors in 1879 to create the Gettysburg cyclorama. He spent several weeks in April 1882 at the site of the Gettysburg Battlefield to sketch and photograph the scene, and extensively researched the battle and its events over several months. Local photographer William H. Tipton created a series of panoramic photographs shot from a wooden tower erected along present-day Hancock Avenue. The photos, pasted together, formed the basis of the composition. Philippoteaux also interviewed several survivors of the battle, including Union generals Winfield S. Hancock, Abner Doubleday, Oliver O. Howard, and Alexander S. Webb, and based his work partly on their recollections.Philippoteaux enlisted a team of five assistants,
