An Exciting Year – for Both Gathering in the Galleries and the Development of a New Interpretation of a Painting in the National Gallery of Art!
It is hard to believe that it has been just over a year since Gathering in the Galleries began! During that year the location where we meet, Studio School on the corner of Brambleton and Brandon in Roanoke, has gone from half way full to standing room only! Participants have found that Gathering in the Galleries allows them to share their thoughts about a host of works of art – from Peale to Picasso, from Baroque portraiture to 19th century Japanese prints. The emphasis of each Gathering in the Galleries is discussion; the overall experience is social. In this way, Gathering in the Galleries allows participants to have an intellectual engagement with a work of art while at the same time finding a fun, social experience. It is the only such event in the region, if not the state. While Gathering in the Galleries has grown over the past year, something else has matured that, for me, has been quite exciting. The first Gathering in the Galleries in September 2010, involved the participants exploring a work by Linton Park titled The Burial. I had been flirting with a new interpretation of the work and chose the first Gathering in the Galleries as a venue to introduce some of my thoughts and suspicions about the painting. Through the descussion, I was able to lead the audience down this particular interpretive path; their positive response encouraged me to investigate this interpretation further. A year later, I am happy to announce that my research is nearing completion. I am excited about my findings! Linton Park’s The Burial was painted ca. 1890.
However, the title for this painting has only been formally in place since 1982 when the National Gallery of Art gave the painting the title in order to clear up discrepancies surrounding the painting’s identity. If Park gave the painting a title, it is not known. The title strongly suggests that the scene in the painting depicts someone having just been buried. Based on the clothing, we can tell that the scene is from the Civil War era. The fragment of a grave marker the older man holds in his right hand conveniently reveals that the person in the grave is a Union soldier. The marker reads: “J. NO [R or B] IS/CO. H/45 PA VOLS.” With this information the title of the painting suggests that a Union soldier has just been buried and his family mourns over the grave. An African-American holds a shovel, suggesting, based on the title, that he has just buried the soldier. At rest beside the mourners is a horse-drawn hearse that presumably just brought the body of the soldier to his grave. However, a close examination of the painting reveals that the title puts forth an inaccurate suggestion as to what is unfolding in the scene Park depicts. The earth has been overturned, leaving behind a small mound of dirt. Covering the dirt are various artifacts tied to war including a bayonet, broken guns, and even cannon balls. Unlike the ideal cemetery as envisioned during the antebellum era, which was to be a refuge where the living could in essence commune with nature and the dead, this burial site shows signs of a previous struggle. Through this depiction, it is clear that these were makeshift graves that are most likely shallow. In all likelihood, the soldiers laid to rest in these temporary graves were at best wrapped in a shroud and in all likelihood not buried in coffins. As was common during the period, they were most likely buried in the nude or in their underwear, which would have been wool underwear since they are from the North; had these been Southern soldiers, their underwear would have been cotton.
Most revealing, though, is that the older man holds in his right hand part of a marker. It is clear that the bottom portion is ragged; it matches the piece of the marker sticking out of the ground at the head of the grave that is the focus of the mourner’s attention. The marker has clearly been broken either due to time or vandalism.
A new grave would not have a marker in this condition. So what is scene? Well, clues suggest that a Northern family has just found the gravesite of a loved one who clearly died in battle – the landscape is scarred by war, which helps to indicate how this man died. The African- American stands ready to exhume the body so that the hearse can carry the body to a resting place more fitting for a soldier who gave his life for the Union, such as a national cemetery. Based on mourning garments, we can see that the deceased died anywhere from six to twelve months earlier. The woman flailing her arms is the only mourner wearing mourning garments. Based on her age, suggested by the gray hair coming out of her bonnet and the wrinkles on her face, this is most likely the deceased’s mother. During the Civil War era, mothers were expected to wear mourning garments for one year after a child died. However, after six months of mourning the mother could advance from “heavy” mourning attire, was all black, to “full” mourning garments. The full mourning stage allowed mothers the freedom to move from all black clothing to black clothing with white trim on the collar and/or the sleeves. The woman clearly has a white trim collar, so she is in full, and not heavy, mourning. We also know that the woman who has thrown herself across the grave is not the soldier’s wife. She wears no mourning garments. Had she been his wife she would have worn mourning clothing for two years after her husband’s death. This woman is a sister, a cousin, or possibly a family friend – but she is not his wife.
The mourning attire also helps to show that this is not a recent burial. Park depicts for us on canvas an important movement that evolved following the Civil War. He reminds us in this painting that following the war Northern soldiers who died in the South had to be located, disinterred, and moved to a more fitting and proper burial site. The national cemetery movement was fueled by legislation from Congress as Congress dictated that soldiers be located, identified if possible, and buried in a casket. They were to be given a marker indicating their names if possible. Park shows a family members locating their loved one’s shallow grave moments before his body is to be exhumed, and, in all likelihood, moved to a national cemetery. The scene is not a burial; it is an exhumation.
My research has uncovered much more about this painting in the past year. The symbolism revolving around the pose of the mother, the way Park juxtaposes the loss of the Union with the loss of the family, and visual and stylistic references Park makes to Thomas Cole’s works and the Romantic movement and the Hudson River School are all important elements of the painting as well. Even the location of the scene is suggested based on the timeframe related to the death of the soldier, evinced through mourning garments; the fact that Park tended to paint scenes he witnessed; the fact that Park traveled through Virginia following the Civil War, thus suggesting this was a scene he witnessed at that time; and the inclusion of rather large ships sailing on the river. The ships indicate that the scene is to the east of the Fall Line. All of this evidence suggests that the scene is on the Petersburg battlefield next to the Appomattox River.
While we will probably never know Park’s full intent behind The Burial, it is clear that the scene is not a burial. The retention of this title erringly leads viewers down a path that fails to even begin to explore several important themes Park tackles in his composition. I would strongly suggest that it is time the National Gallery of Art examine the possibility of changing the title of this painting one more time.
