Sherman at Savannah, Georgia

Sherman at Savannah, Georgia

Otto Botticher

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This group portrait represents the Union officers who supported General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through Georgia, from Atlanta to Savannah, between November 15 and December 21, 1864. The general’s willingness to penetrate deep into Confederate territory without supporting supply lines proved to be devastatingly effective in undermining Confederate spirit and hastened the end of the war. At right additional officers review federal troops before Savannah, and below, Sherman’s famous letter presenting the city to Abraham Lincoln for Christmas is reproduced. The lithograph is based on a painting by Botticher who left Germany in 1848, established a portrait and lithography studio in New York, served as a lieutenant colonel in the Union army, and became known for the accuracy of his military subjects.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.