Tribute
by Martin Grelle
| Painting this piece meant a
lot to me. It is my tribute to all those who have given their lives for
this country, whether they are or were military or not, and to all those
who have risked their lives to serve and protect us as police, , firemen
or emergency medical personnel - as well as a tribute by the soldiers in
the painting to their fallen comrades. It is a western genre painting
because that's how I best express myself. The cavalrymen are in the
1880's uniforms appropriate to the western frontier. The flag is one
that was carried by the cavalry and is actually a guidon, not the United
States flag of that period, so it has alternating red & white stripe
and the blue field of stars, but the stars are gold instead of white. I
felt it was more appropriate historically for this time period, and yet
still has the impact of the traditional Red, White and Blue. The
soldiers would probably be from two different companies, as their horses
are not the same color. I'm sure there were exceptions, but usually
horses were distributed to individual companies according to their
color. The soldier closest to the viewer is a first sergeant,
represented by the rank chevron on his arm, as well as the yellow stripe
down his pants leg. The soldier bearing the flag has a corporal's
chevron.
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