THE GETTYSBURG PICTURE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 696, 22 December 1909, Page 7

THE GETTYSBURG PICTURE.

V IT3 HISTORY. ■, In Tjte Dominion yesterday there appeared a reference to the fact that the famous panoranuo picture of the Battle of Gettysburg had been taken over by the Defence Department, and so rescued from annihilation at tho cor- , para ion destructor. The picture has had an eventful career. It W pa l nte d in Chicago, , U.S.A, twenty artists of note being engaged ? P ?? SK and c ? al fiomethiag l!ko i! 15,000. Latterly jt was exhibited in Sydney for many ,ytars, and was afterwards brought to New Zealand, where it-attracted,astonishing busiiloss at the Christchurch Exhibition, and paid handsome dividends to the local company jrhich leased it. It was then brought to Weflington for exhibition purposes, but diifaculties arose, Suitable sites wow too expensive, ternporary buildings wero>not allowed. The Customs people wanted to charge duty on "a r,c n if ? W? nd mi ,\P« som solution of this aspect of the case, the picture was stored in tho Harbour Board's shod. The United States Government declined to readmit tho pic- ■ ture free except as a gift to the nation, and the enormous duty was prohibitive. It finally came into tho bauds of the Vnbhc Trustee as part of an intestate estato, and was just about to be sent to the destructor when tho Government accepted it as a free gift to the State.