Foundering
James Hamilton
American Art
On View:
As in his painting The Last Days of Pompeii, on view nearby, here James Hamilton depicts human frailty in the face of nature’s awesome force. Under dramatic skies a foundering ship is tossed on stormy waves. A Confederate flag whips from the top of the mast (upside down to signal distress), making the image emblematic of the ongoing devastation of the U.S. Civil War and predictive of the South’s defeat.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1863
DIMENSIONS
59 5/8 x 48 1/16 in. (151.5 x 122 cm)
frame: 70 1/8 × 58 9/16 × 5 1/4 in. (178.1 × 148.7 × 13.3 cm) (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed verso: "Foundering' / Jas Hamilton / Philada 1863"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
55.139
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
James Hamilton (American, 1819–1878). Foundering, 1863. Oil on canvas, 59 5/8 x 48 1/16 in. (151.5 x 122 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 55.139 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.55.139.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, CUR.55.139.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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