08-14-201008-15-2010
Skinner Auctions
Skinner AuctionsMarlborough MA
August 14, 2010 03:00 PMCalender
962

Anglo-American School, 19th Century Portrait of the Ship RAPAHANNOCK.

Sell one like this
$35,550$30,000
Auction: American Furniture & Decorative Arts - 2509Location: MarlboroughDate / Time: August 15, 2010 10:00AM

Description:

Anglo-American School, 19th Century

Portrait of the Ship RAPAHANNOCK. Unsigned, vessel identified on bow and pennant. Oil on wood panel, 31 1/2 x 42 in., in a period painted and gilded molded wood frame. Condition: Minor abrasions with associated paint loss.

Literature: According to the Report on the Ship-building in the United States by Henry Hall, Special Agent at the Department of the Interior, 1844, the Rapahannock was built in 1841 by Clark & Sewell of Bath, Maine, and at the time was the largest merchantman ship in the world. "Her great size astonished everybody, and it was a general prediction that she would be a failure" as it "was not believed that there was foreign commerce enough to occupy such a vessel." "She ran as a packet ship to Liverpool in the summer time and as a cotton ship from New Orleans in the winter. The ship was a success, living 21 years and ended her existence in freighting coal to the Mediterranean."


Estimate $2,500-3,500

Several small abrasions, with paint losses, about 16 in the sky and water.

Keywords

Henry Hall, Anglo-American School, United States, Department of the Interior, Special Agent, Maine, Bath, New Orleans, Mediterranean