Rarely displayed Confederate paintings on website

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A series of paintings by a Confederate soldier stationed in Charleston during the Civil War is being made available to a worldwide audience of scholars and Civil War buffs.

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., goes live on its website Tuesday with all 31 paintings by Conrad Wise Chapman, an American who grew up in Italy and served with Confederates.

Perhaps his most famous painting is of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship.

The museum recently completed a $25,000, decade-long effort to conserve the paintings and digitalize them for the Web.

The complete set of paintings was displayed for the first time in years this spring at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston.

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Online: The Museum of the Confederacy: http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer