Flight of the Warrior’s Soul

  • Creator: Carl Gutherz
  • Title: Flight of the Warrior’s Soul
  • Date: 1865
  • Description: This oval image depicts a banner held by three flying figures against a light sky above a clouded dark landscape. A uniformed man stands next to a broken wagon wheel and another figure is seated on the ground next to him.
  • Historical Note: This is the earliest known Civil War-themed work by artist Carl Gutherz (1844-1907), whose family moved from Switzerland to Memphis in 1860, when he was 16. It is a mourning picture intended to honor death by showing a banner being lifted into heaven. Below is a melancholy scene of two soldiers in a barren landscape shrouded in dark clouds. Although Gutherz's brother Fred served in the 154th Senior Volunteer Regiment depicted in the banner, he survived the war. Carl returned to Europe to study in France in the late 1860s, and made his fame painting large "salon" paintings intended for public viewing. Rather than showing heroic battlefield scenes, these paintings, like this symbolic mourning picture, portray a sense of loss.
  • Institution: Pink Palace Family of Museums
  • Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the Pink Palace Family of Museums.
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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