Zouaves in camp. Watercolor by Carl Goebel c. 1865
There are over 15,000 individual prints, drawings, paintings, and watercolors in the Military Collection, mounted in acid-free mats and stored in print boxes or on shelves in the print room off the main gallery. Unlike the books and portfolios, each image has its own unique call number. The earliest pictures date from the 16th century and the most recent items include more than 1,600 paintings, drawings, and watercolors depicting World War II by artists who served in the United States armed forces. The graphics are arranged by country and within each country are sections containing battle and campaign scenes, portraits, caricatures, uniforms, naval subjects, and genre scenes. There are thousands of original pencil sketches and watercolors along with mezzotints, lithographs, aquatints, and other printed forms. Numerous artists are represented in the graphic collection. Many of these images can now be viewed in the digital archive.
The Battle of the Boyne. Engraving after Benjamin West, 1781
In 2005, a large watercolor ‘moving’ panorama measuring 273 feet and depicting the life and campaigns of the Italian patriot, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was donated to the collection. This was painted around 1860 by John James Story, a provincial English artist working in the northern midland city of Nottingham, and is one of the few surviving ‘moving’ panoramas. It was accompanied by the original manuscript narration.