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Cyclorama Focal Point
July 3, 1863 - Third Day
"You will find hard work to convince yourself that you are not standing on the top of Cemetery Ridge in the very center of the position occupied by the troops of the Northern army on that memorable day in July ...."
-- Boston Sunday Globe, December 20, 1884, Preview of the Cyclorama exhibit
In 1882, 19 years after the battle, the renowned French artist Paul Philippoteaux journeyed to Gettysburg to study the battlefield and interview veterans. He chose the spot where you are now standing to be the focal point of a monumental 360° painting, or cyclorama, depicting the climax of Pickett's Charge.
Using sketches, notes, and photos made here, Philippoteaux returned to Paris, where, with the aid of five other artists, he completed the cyclorama in just two years for an exhibition in Chicago. Later he completed a second cyclorama nearly identical to the first. This second painting was exhibited in Boston in 1884, and later in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.
In 1913 the "Boston" version of the cyclorama was brought to Gettysburg for the 50th Anniversary of the battle. Later the National Park Service acquired and restored the painting. Today the cyclorama is exhibited in the cylindrical building behind you, within sight of the historic landscape it depicts.
To accurately record landscape details, artist Paul Philippoteaux made arrangements with local photographer William Tipton to take photographs of the surrounding area in 1882. The photographs, including this view to the south, were taken from an elevated platform located here.
French painter Paul Philippoteaux at work on the Gettysburg Cyclorama in the 1880s. Today the completed painting measures 26 feet high and 360 feet long. |