Stonewall Jackson, c. 1880

Charles Armor (1844-1911), Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, c. 1880. Oil on canvas, 29 ½ x 24 ¾ in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Beretta in honor of Mrs. Lane Taylor, member of the original Domicile Committee.

Charles Armor was a self-taught artist who was active primarily in Washington, D.C. He copied works of art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art at the end of the 1870s. This portrait of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is based on a daguerreotype Jackson sat for at Matthew B. Brady’s New York photography studio in 1851, retouched during the Civil War period to portray him as a 2-star Confederate general. In 1851, Jackson had recently joined the faculty of the Virginia Military Institute as a Professor of Physics. Even though Jackson wore a full beard during the Civil War and was photographed that way several times (including by Matthew Brady), Brady turned to the earlier daguerreotype as the source for a popular carte de visite photograph that he sold during the 1860s.

Armor largely follows the retouched carte de visite, including the oval framework, cut off after three buttons, and the collar. However, he exaggerated the epaulettes and also lightened the tone of the navy wool material to grey, to reflect Jackson’s service in the Confederate Army.