End of the Bridge after Burnside's Attack, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Likely made in April 1863 during a truce just before the Battle of Chancellorsville, this view from the buttress of a ruined railroad bridge spanning the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg documents a small group of Confederate soldiers and civilians. They stare across the divide at their fellow combatants and pose for the camera. Russell’s long focal-length lens compressed foreground and background elements, suggesting that the two sides were actually closer than they were. It is the only known landscape view or portrait by a Union photographer showing the enemy neither dead, incarcerated, or under visible military control.
Artwork Details
- Title: End of the Bridge after Burnside's Attack, Fredericksburg, Virginia
- Artist: Andrew Joseph Russell (American, 1830–1902)
- Former Attribution: Formerly attributed to Mathew B. Brady (American, born Ireland, 1823?–1896 New York)
- Date: 1863
- Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: Image: 13.1 × 20.6 cm (5 3/16 × 8 1/8 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933
- Object Number: 33.65.17
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Multiple artists/makers
1861–65
Andrew Joseph Russell
Mathew B. Brady
1861–65
Andrew Joseph Russell
Mathew B. Brady
1861–65
Andrew Joseph Russell
Mathew B. Brady
1861–65
Andrew Joseph Russell
Mathew B. Brady
1863
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