of the Battle of Stones River
as painted by William Travis, c. 1865.
Painting 1 shows the chaos and destruction of the battle, and the desperate situation of the Union army as it flees a Confederate onslaught.
Questions for Painting 1
1. Examine closely the action portrayed in this painting. Choose one of the characters shown and describe what you believe your character saw and what he was feeling.
2. What do you think is the focus of the painting? Why do you think the artist might have painted this particular scene?
3. What emotions does this painting evoke in you? Do you think the painter intentionally attempted to elicit strong emotions in this work? Why or why not?
* The painting on this screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high quality version of Painting 1, but be aware that the file will take as much as 32 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.