Our Banner in the Sky

When I consider contemporary artistic depictions of the Civil War, there’s no shortage of mediums. Often prints spread on the pages of Harpers Weekly or the photographic galleries hosted by Mathew Brady get the most attention, but there were other artists more famous before the war that took their own views. My personal favorite has long been Our Banner in the Sky (1861) by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). He was a student of Thomas Cole and member of the Hudson River School, a mid-19^th-century art movement defined by Romanticism-inspired landscape paintings often featuring American topics, the works were some of the most renowned pre-war paintings.

By exploring American landscapes to highlight the nation’s beauty and share stories of exploration and the sublime experience of nature, artists like Church and Cole showcased what they believed to be the nation’s spirit.

Our Banner in the Sky is a small work, only about 7.5 by 11 3/8 inches. Though a small oil painting on paper, it explores a big topic. Church created this piece in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. Mere weeks after the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, he sat down, considered this image of the flag, and made his own. Fort Sumter’s story hinges on the images of the American flag flying above the fort followed by its removal and later the story of Robert Anderson returning the flag in 1865 would become a memorable story.

Church did not know the flag would return in 1865; at the time he saw his beloved nation coming apart at the seams. In his portrayal, he creates a national flag out of the natural environment he was so talented at painting. A worn, leafless tree creates the pole, while white clouds and others tinted red by sunrise create the stripes. The clouds make the flag appear tattered, an image that would soon be replicated by countless flags on the upcoming fields of battle. A gap in the clouds reveals the blue night sky with a smattering of stars, while an eagle emerges at the top. The banner towers over a field of mountains and a river, though the landscape is more clouded by shadow than most of his works. While his work depicts the flag as worn, the implications of durability and heavenly support were reassuring to other wartime viewers.

The Hudson River School taught Church how to depict the American landscape that he thought defined the nation’s strengths and character. When that landscape was threatened by turmoil, he chose to show that landscape even more closely intertwined with the nation’s flag, making a powerful statement.