Angel on the Battlefield, Emanuel Gottleib Leutze (1864)
Over 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War. Surrounded by newspaper reports and gruesome photographs, Emanuel Leutze painted Angel on the Battlefield to comfort the broken and grieving nation. This angel inscribes the names of fallen soldiers in the Book of Life, honoring their courage and sacrifice. The dead wear a variety of uniforms, acknowledging that war’s tragic consequences affected both North and South, as well as the victims of earlier conflicts.
