Gettysburg Cyclorama Original Unveiled to Public

On 21 April 2015, owners of one of the original Gettysburg Cycloramas had all 14 panels displayed for the public in a warehouse in Fuquay-Varina/USA.

The dimensions of the painting are 42ft by 377 ft. According to the owners this cyclorama was painted by French artist, Paul Philippoteaux along with 15 additional artists from 1881-1883. Other studies state that this painting has been created by Edward J. Austen in 1895 as a copy after one of Philippoteaux' Gettysburg Cycloramas.
The version now on display locally was rediscovered in a Chicago warehouse by Winston-Salem art collector Joe King. It was found in a walled up space in the basement of a warehouse in the 1960’s. King bought it and brought it back to Winston-Salem where in 1965 he unveiled to the public in what was then the Wake Forest College’s football stadium. Upon King’s death in 1996 the painting was donated to Wake Forest University. In 2007, Billy Ray Powell of Fuquay-Varina, along with partners; Leigh Ballance of Raleigh, and David Wilson of Rocky Mount, purchased the painting anonymously from Wake Forest University for an unspecified amount. The partners had kept their identities as co-owners unknown to the public until a few months ago when Ballance had heard on the radio about the North Carolina Civil War History Center being proposed in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had also discovered that the History Center’s organizers had been searching for the Gettysburg Cyclorama but due to their anonymity, they had been unsuccessful until now. The co-owners believed that the painting needed to be seen by the public and their hope is to find a buyer for it where it can be displayed properly for all to enjoy in the future. North Carolina Civil War History Center backers, David Winslow of Winston-Salem and Mary Lynn Bryan of Fayetteville were in attendance to view the painting. Though the decision to purchase the painting isn’t theirs to make, they will be able to share the experience of viewing the painting to the other backers. Their group has raised over $5 million last year in their fundraising efforts and they are hoping for more private and state funding in the next few years. The goal is to have the North Carolina Civil War History Center open by 2020.

(Source: www.righthereinhollysprings.com)