About this record
After losing an arm at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, General Lucius Fairchild returned to Wisconsin, eventually serving as governor for three successive terms (1866-1872). Fairchild devoted much of his retirement to veterans' interests, however, and at the time of this portrait, Fairchild was national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Civil War veterans. In the 1870s and 1880s Fairchild received several diplomatic appointments to European nations, serving in England, France, and Spain. The artist, John Singer Sargent, was one of the great painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, earning a reputation for his portraits of the influential and powerful.Citation
Sargent, John Singer. "Lucius Fairchild." portrait. Wisconsin Historical Museum.