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Forbes, a contemporary and colleague of Winslow Homer and
Thomas Nast, was a battlefield illustrator for “Frank Leslie's
Illustrated Newspaper” during the Civil War. In 1876 he published a portfolio of 40 etchings, “Life Studies
of the Great Army,” showing the reality of Civil War camp life. The edition of these large prints is not known, but experts in
the field estimate an edition of no more than 200 images. The
etchings were printed on thick wove paper with full margins. "The Sanctuary" shows the moment when a family of
African-Americans has sighted the Union lines and knows that they
are safe. It was the last etching in the portfolio, summing up
what the war was all about for many. The New York City native was a student of Arthur Fitzwilliam
Tait and exhibited at the National Academy of Design.
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