The Prodigy

Sometimes a small painting can tell a big story. Such is the case with a six-by-nine-inch landscape by John S. Jameson. The painting is on display at the Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, New York, in the new exhibition, "Rally 'Round the Flag: Frederic Edwin Church and the Civil War.”Born in 1842 in Hartford, John S. Jameson was a rising young star among the New York painters at the time of the Civil War. The patriotic tug of duty, however, changed his course.A prodigy in both art and music, Jameson attracted attention in the 1850s while just barely a teenager. His father was the organi...