Grant New Grant photograph!

KansasFreestater

1st Lieutenant
I thought I'd seen every photograph of Grant ever made, but I stumbled upon this one in a book I bought several months ago that's not about Grant at all: The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman's Experiences in the Civil War. Since Whitman spent 1863 through 1866 working as a volunteer nurse in military hospitals, most of the book's 50 photographs are of battlefields, hospitals and Whitman himself. But there was one photo each of Grant and Lee, and I think this one of Grant is a treasure.

6057coll2&CISOPTR=16&action=2&DMSCALE=45&DMWIDTH=333&DMHEIGHT=478&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMROTATE=0.jpg


So how about it, Grant fans? Any of y'all seen this one before?
 
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I thought I'd seen every photograph of Grant ever made, but I stumbled upon this one in a book I bought several months ago that's not about Grant at all: The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman's Experiences in the Civil War. Since Whitman spent 1863 through 1866 working as a volunteer nurse in military hospitals, most of the book's 50 photographs are of battlefields, hospitals and Whitman himself. But there was one photo each of Grant and Lee, and I think this one of Grant is a treasure.

6057coll2&CISOPTR=16&action=2&DMSCALE=45&DMWIDTH=333&DMHEIGHT=478&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMROTATE=0.jpg


So how about it, Grant fans? Any of y'all seen this one before?
I thought I'd seen every photograph of Grant ever made, but I stumbled upon this one in a book I bought several months ago that's not about Grant at all: The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman's Experiences in the Civil War. Since Whitman spent 1863 through 1866 working as a volunteer nurse in military hospitals, most of the book's 50 photographs are of battlefields, hospitals and Whitman himself. But there was one photo each of Grant and Lee, and I think this one of Grant is a treasure.

6057coll2&CISOPTR=16&action=2&DMSCALE=45&DMWIDTH=333&DMHEIGHT=478&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMROTATE=0.jpg


So how about it, Grant fans? Any of y'all seen this one before?
I cannot remember seeing this one before. I would also like to see the one of Lee.
 
I thought I'd seen every photograph of Grant ever made, but I stumbled upon this one in a book I bought several months ago that's not about Grant at all: The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman's Experiences in the Civil War. Since Whitman spent 1863 through 1866 working as a volunteer nurse in military hospitals, most of the book's 50 photographs are of battlefields, hospitals and Whitman himself. But there was one photo each of Grant and Lee, and I think this one of Grant is a treasure.

6057coll2&CISOPTR=16&action=2&DMSCALE=45&DMWIDTH=333&DMHEIGHT=478&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMROTATE=0.jpg


So how about it, Grant fans? Any of y'all seen this one before?

Awesome, KF! No, I sure ain't ever seen it before. Love it though. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
I hope I'm not raining on the parade here, and Lord knows I don't know too much about photos so maybe I'm wrong but to me...the image looks... a bit strange. Grant's body in particular and the chair too... don't look proportional? I don't know: thanks for sharing, KF! :smile:
 
Is that the whole picture or has it been cropped? Just looks like a partial image..
I hope I'm not raining on the parade here, and Lord knows I don't know too much about photos so maybe I'm wrong but to me...the image looks... a bit strange. Grant's body in particular and the chair too... don't look proportional? I don't know: thanks for sharing, KF! :smile:
It does look like it might have been excerpted from a group picture -- and the background cut out.
 
Freestater:
I can't vouch for the image, but I do like it. I see some things that will make nay-sayers go freaky about it. For example: Look at the gray scale value on the back of his left hand. It's pretty brightly lit. Now look at his face. It would be very convincing if the high points of his cheek bones, etc., would be equally brightly lit. They aren't. Does that negate the authenticity of the photo? Not necessarily. But it doesn't reinforce its authenticity, either. All that aside, it's a very interesting photo. Even if it is a composite, we have a nice facial portrait of Gen. Grant here. What's not to like about that?!
 
That's an interesting picture. I'm a little dubious that it is actually Grant, though! There's something odd about the shape of the face and the nose doesn't seem to have the little bump Grant's had, the hands seem too thin and the posture seems different for him. Sometimes people can look quite different depending on light and all, I suppose!
 
I hope I'm not raining on the parade here, and Lord knows I don't know too much about photos so maybe I'm wrong but to me...the image looks... a bit strange. Grant's body in particular and the chair too... don't look proportional? I don't know: thanks for sharing, KF! :smile:
Well, I don't know, Hanna. A very common reaction among people who were meeting him for the first time after he'd already become famous was surprise at how small he was. They'd expected the great hero of the Union to be some big, imposing guy -- someone more like Hancock! Ulysses confounded their expectations with how diminutive and unimposing he was.
 
I tried a Google image search, and they find no other example anywhere on the web (of the uncounted millions of sites they've scanned). Peculiar.

jno
I know. I couldn't find it via Google Images, either. But the photo credits in the book I mentioned listed the photo as being in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum. And indeed, that is where you can find it, along with a detailed description of it and its provenance:
http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16057coll2/id/16
 
That's an interesting picture. I'm a little dubious that it is actually Grant, though! There's something odd about the shape of the face and the nose doesn't seem to have the little bump Grant's had, the hands seem too thin and the posture seems different for him. Sometimes people can look quite different depending on light and all, I suppose!
I can't say whether the rest of the photo has been manipulated or not, but that face is definitely Grant. Trust me on this. (speaking as a founding member of Grant Obsessives Anonymous :wink: )
 
I can't say whether the rest of the photo has been manipulated or not, but that face is definitely Grant. Trust me on this. (speaking as a founding member of Grant Obsessives Anonymous :wink: )
Looking at a larger version of the photo at the link it seems to show two of three stars on his shoulder strap. AKAIK Grant was the only Union general who wore three stars during the Civil War.
 
I know. I couldn't find it via Google Images, either. But the photo credits in the book I mentioned listed the photo as being in the collections of the Boston Athenaeum. And indeed, that is where you can find it, along with a detailed description of it and its provenance:
http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16057coll2/id/16
So it is.
From an album made up before 1911. Enlarging the photo actually increases the sharpness, and it doesn't look so 'manipulated.' There's another cdv in the album with a bust image taken from the same plate. Also another seated in the same chair, facing right with background, and one standing that looks like it might have been taken at the same time. And a lot of other ACW images -- many of them unfamiliar to me:
http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Mason, Alice, ca. 1836-1911./mode/exact
 
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I thought I'd seen every photograph of Grant ever made, but I stumbled upon this one in a book I bought several months ago that's not about Grant at all: The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman's Experiences in the Civil War. Since Whitman spent 1863 through 1866 working as a volunteer nurse in military hospitals, most of the book's 50 photographs are of battlefields, hospitals and Whitman himself. But there was one photo each of Grant and Lee, and I think this one of Grant is a treasure.

6057coll2&CISOPTR=16&action=2&DMSCALE=45&DMWIDTH=333&DMHEIGHT=478&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMROTATE=0.jpg


So how about it, Grant fans? Any of y'all seen this one before?

It's Grant alright.

Thanks for posting this.

And this is why I always come back to this forum. There is always something new I never knew about before.

Thanks,
Unionblue
 
I thought I'd seen every photograph of Grant ever made, but I stumbled upon this one in a book I bought several months ago that's not about Grant at all: The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman's Experiences in the Civil War. Since Whitman spent 1863 through 1866 working as a volunteer nurse in military hospitals, most of the book's 50 photographs are of battlefields, hospitals and Whitman himself. But there was one photo each of Grant and Lee, and I think this one of Grant is a treasure.

6057coll2&CISOPTR=16&action=2&DMSCALE=45&DMWIDTH=333&DMHEIGHT=478&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMROTATE=0.jpg


So how about it, Grant fans? Any of y'all seen this one before?
Great find!!! Here is another link to the same photograph as a card.

http://historical.ha.com/itm/photography/rare-ulysses-s-grant-carte-de-visite/a/6131-47318.s

The card bears the imprint on the reverse of photographer Henry Warren of Waltham, Massachusetts.
 
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