Rush to the Summit

This is Mort Künstler limited edition print - Rush to the Summit. Chamberlain at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.

LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
Paper Prints
Reproduction technique: Fine offset lithography on neutral pH archival quality paper using the finest fade-resistant inks.
Each print is numbered and signed by the artist and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

Image Size: 16” x 30-1/2” • Overall Size: 21” x 34”
Signed & Numbered • Edition Size: 350
Signed Artist’s Proof • Edition Size: 50

Giclée Canvas Prints
Reproduction technique: Giclées are printed with the finest archival pigmented inks on canvas.
Each print is numbered and signed by the artist and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

Signature Edition 14” x 27”
Signed & Numbered • Edition Size: 50
Signed Artist’s Proof • Edition Size: 10

Classic Edition 18” x 34”
Signed & Numbered • Edition Size: 50
Signed Artist’s Proof • Edition Size: 10

Premier Edition 21” x 40”
Signed & Numbered • Edition Size: 15
Signed Artist’s Proof • Edition Size: 5

Historical Information

Thirty-four year-old Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain’s orders were clear and urgent: Move your regiment and do it fast. It was the second day at the Battle of Gettysburg, and General Robert E. Lee’s formidable Army of Northern Virginia was making its attack. The day before, Lee’s hard-fighting troops had broken the Federal line and had driven Northern troops through the town of Gettysburg in defeat and near panic. They had been stopped and reformed on a new line atop defensible high ground called Cemetery Ridge – and now Lee had struck again.

This time two Confederate assaults came simultaneously; one against the right side of the Federal line, and the other against the left side. On the left, the Northern defenders began giving way, and the Southerners were on their way to capturing a strategic, undefended battlefield landmark – a high wooded hill called Little Round Top. If captured by the Confederates, it could mean destruction of the Federal line. The battle – and maybe even the war – could be lost for the Union.

Mort Künstler’s Comments

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain has always been one of my favorite characters from the Civil War. A citizen soldier who forged an extraordinary military career, he went on to a civilian life that was nothing short of spectacular: President of Bowdoin College, acclaimed classroom instructor, and four-time Governor of Maine. Like Lee, he was a man of exceptional character, and his appeal seems to be universal. Today, Chamberlain seems to have as many admirers in the South as he does in the North.

Rush to the Summit presents Chamberlain at a critical moment in the battle of Gettysburg. It’s a prequel to an earlier and very popular work of mine – Chamberlain’s Charge – which depicts the climax of Chamberlain’s famous and heroic defense of Little Round Top. Rush to the Summit shows Chamberlain on horseback before he dismounted, ordering the 20th Maine up the hill to the summit of Little Round Top.

The color company, Company F, races to the top with its color guard in the lead. The red Maltese cross corps badge is prominent on the troops’ kepis as well as is the regiment’s number 20. The battle flag is painted from photographs of the original 20th Maine colors, which are preserved and displayed at the Maine State Museum. Armed with their Springfields and Enfields, the men from Maine are seen taking their positions on the extreme left of the Union line.

The tone of the green in the woods is deliberately different from the trees in Chamberlain’s Charge and another Chamberlain work of mine entitled Hero of Little Round Top. This painting is different because it occurs earlier in the afternoon, when virtually no battle smoke was there. I was able to utilize the bright sunlight filtering through the trees to dramatically light the flag and Chamberlain. His brother and military aide, Thomas Chamberlain, is the mounted officer right behind him. I can only hope that this prequel Rush to the Summit proves to be as well-received as Chamberlain’s Charge. Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine certainly deserve to be remembered.