Frederic Edwin Church
A red sunset morphs into a dramatic vision of the American flag, waving in tatters over a dark and desolate wilderness. A bare tree trunk in the foreground serves as a flag pole, and the colors of the sunset form the red and white stripes. A break in the clouds reveals stars upon a deep blue firmament.
Church painted Our Banner in the Sky to stir patriotic fervor at the moment of national rupture, the dawn of the Civil War, after the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter. The image delivered its rousing message to a receptive audience. It became even more popular when a New York publishing firm bought the copyright to Church’s painting and reproduced it as a lithograph.
The flag of Fort Sumter had been taken to the North, where it became the focal point of numerous patriotic rallies, the first of which took place in New York City's Union Square. With over 100,000 attendees, it was the largest public gathering in the United States to date. The celebrity flag toured countless cities throughout the North, where it raised funds for the war effort by being auctioned off. The winner then donated the flag back to the nation to be auctioned off again at the next rally.
To all our American friends: Happy 4th of July!