Conrad Wise Chapman: Artist & Soldier of the Confederacy
The son of the artist John Gadsby Chapman, Conrad Wise Chapman became one of the most important artists of the Confederacy. Living with his parents in Rome at the start of the Civil War, Conrad sailed for America to defend his native Virginia. He served in the Confederate army in the western theater and then in Virginia. Finally, when he was stationed in Charleston, General Beauregard ordered him to make detailed drawings of the defenses surrounding Charleston. From these drawings came his famous Charleston series of paintings. After the war, he returned to Rome and then back to America again, eventually settling in Mexico. There he painted his landscape "Valley in Mexico," which he reproduced in smaller versions in later years. He died in poverty in Virginia in 1910. This first full-length biography draws on Chapman's memoirs. Civil War buffs should like the illustrations, but there is little detail of Chapman's war experiences. It will probably appeal more to art historians specializing in that era.?Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., MetamoraCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.