Gilbert Gaul (1855-1919) was an American painter and illustrator known for his depictions of military subjects, usually scenes from the American Civil War portraying Confederate soldiers with sympathy. Born in New Jersey, he attended the Claverack Military Academy and Newark schools until health issues barred him from military service, so he decided to pursue art studies. Gaul trained ath the National Academy of Design under Lemuel E. Wilmart and J.G. Brown from 1872 to 1876, then attended the Art Students League in 1875 to 1876, and debuted at the National Academy's annual exhibition in 1877 and was elected its youngest academician in 1882. Early in his career, he focused mostly in illustration for magazines like Harper's Monthly, Century Magazine, Scribner's Monthly and Cosmopolitan while also developing a strong technique in oil paintings, emphasizing poignant genre scenes and frontier subjects. Gaul inheritied a Tennessee farm from his mother's side in 1881, and resided there until 1885 while producing pastoral landscapes and rural genre works alongside Civil War remembrances. Starting in 1876, he went on Western expeditions where he sketched and photographed Native Americans and frontier life. He also made journeys to Mexico, the West Indies, Panama and Nicaragua. Gaul exhibited in many places and earned awards, at the Paris Exposition in 1889, 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the 1902 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Interest in Civil War themes started to decline by the early 1900s, which led to Gaul's financial struggles. He began teaching at the Watkins Institute and Cumberland Female College in McMinnville after settling in Nashville in 1904, then relocated to Ridgefield, New Jersey around 1910, where he painted World War 1 subjects. He remained there until his death in 1919.
