$35,550
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." Several small abrasions, with paint losses, about 16 in the sky and water.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2010-08-15
