Booknotes: The Antietam Paintings by James Hope

New Arrival:
• The Antietam Paintings by James Hope by Bradley M. Gottfried & Linda I. Gottfried (Author, 2022).

Except for the too-perfect alignment of battle lines in some of them, I've always liked the Hope series of paintings depicting scenes from the Battle of Antietam. According to the introduction to Bradley and Linda Gottfried's The Antietam Paintings by James Hope, Hope's work was directly informed by the artist's prewar painting background (during which he developed a passion for landscapes), his personal experience of the battle (he was a captain in the Second Vermont), and his topographical engineer duties during the war.

From the description: "The Battle of Antietam held a special place for Hope, and during the late 1880's into the 1890's, he created five large panoramic paintings of various aspects of the battle. Four of the five still exist today and are regularly displayed at the Antietam National Battlefield; the fifth was badly damaged in a flood, but a smaller version still exists."

In addition to learning more about Hope himself, I am looking forward to perusing the volume's breakdown of key features displayed in his painting series. More from the description: The 48-page booklet "describes Hope's life and then reviews each of the five panoramic paintings in detail, beginning with a representation of the entire painting and then by dividing the painting into three sections and illustrating the major features of each in subsequent pages. A full-color panel is on the right side of each page and a description of the events/scenes, is on the left."