Gallery 23

While Homer based the majority of his Civil War paintings and illustrations on sketches, this portrait is based on a tintype photograph. Commercial portrait photography flourished during the war, and portraits of soldiers were treasured by the families who might lose their sons and brothers in battle. This portrait shows Albert Kintzing Post in a Union camp. A second lieutenant in the 45th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry, Post survived the war but died a few years later at the age of twenty-nine while trying to save a boy from drowning.

While Homer based the majority of his Civil War paintings and illustrations on sketches, this portrait is based on a tintype photograph. Commercial portrait photography flourished during the war, and portraits of soldiers were treasured by the families who might lose their sons and brothers in battle. This portrait shows Albert Kintzing Post in a Union camp. A second lieutenant in the 45th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry, Post survived the war but died a few years later at the age of twenty-nine while trying to save a boy from drowning.