"The Conspirators", by General Lew Wallace

[Pamela]

(02-15-2015 08:40 PM)Pamela Wrote:  It's interesting that Wallace didn't use the photos of the conspirators as resources for his painting because he could have improved the likenesses. It must have been important for him to work from his sketches which do capture their emotions, which are eerie (and miserable) to me. He could have put Mary Surratt into the painting with her veil but he must have wanted to work only from his sketches and he didn't sketch her in the courtroom.

I think Powell was an impressive physical specimen to him, as he seemed to be to many others and I agree his military background was probably a factor in Wallace's choice for the central figure. Kind of Ben Hur like. I wonder why the painting is so large? My guess is that the large size indicated the importance of the event in his life. Where did he keep the painting during his lifetime? How many paintings did he do and were they also large?

Of course he did work from a photo of Booth which is why he is easy to recognize. I guess it was important for Wallace to convey the authenticity of his impressions of the conspirators during the trial more than good likenesses. Maybe the large size was because the painting was intended for a location in the room so that it needed to be large in order to see it.