Background:
French artist Paul Philippoteaux made four Gettysburg cycloramas, each depicting the climax of the battle on the afternoon of July 3, 1863, when Confederates made an all-out assault on the Union line along Cemetery Ridge. Philippoteaux traveled to Gettysburg in 1882 and spent several weeks sketching the battlefield, having photographs made and talking to veterans. The cycloramas are 360 degree paintings, about 370 feet long and 22 feet tall. The original "Battle of Gettysburg" cyclorama opened in Chicago in 1883 and was such a hit that Philippoteaux was commissioned to paint a second, which went on view in Boston in 1884. This second version is the one that is on display at Gettysburg National Military Park. Slightly shorter at 359 feet long, it is nearly identical to the first except for minor details. The third and fourth Gettysburg cycloramas have been lost. The first cyclorama was found in Chicago and as of 2005, was still being stored in 14 cylinders at Wake Forest University, looking for a buyer. The recovery of the first Gettysburg cyclorama was made by the late artist Joseph Wallace King. A world-renowned portraitist, he had a special interest in large paintings and searched for 30 years for the "Chicago edition" of the cyclorama before he found it, in 1965, in a nearly forgotten storage room of a Chicago warehouse.