United States Ship of the Line Ohio

Details

James Edward Buttersworth (1817-1894)
United States Ship of the Line Ohio
oil on canvas
25 ¾ x 38 in. (65.4 x 96.5 cm.)
Painted circa 1852.

Provenance

Horace W. Gordon, Villanova, Pennsylvania, 1968.
The Dietrich American Foundation, Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, 1968.
Christie's, New York, 2 December 1988, lot 50, sold by the above.
Acquired by the late owners from the above.

Literature

R.J. Schaefer, J.E. Buttersworth: 19th Century Marine Painter, Mystic, Connecticut, 1975, p. 95, pl. 70, illustrated.
R. Ellsworth, et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Arts of Asia and Neighboring Cultures, vol. III, New York, 1993, p. 439.
R.J. Schaefer, A.W. German, J.U. Schaefer, J.E. Buttersworth: 19th Century Marine Painter, Mystic, Connecticut, 2009, p. 247.

Exhibited

Annapolis, Maryland, United States Naval Academy Museum, 1971-85, on loan.

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Lot Essay

The U.S.S. Ohio was designed by Henry Eckford and built at the New York Navy Yard, launching on May 30, 1820. Although she spent her early years in ordinary, in 1838 she became the flagship of Commodore Isaac Hull and departed New York on December 6, 1838 under the command of Captain Joseph Smith. She made passage through rough seas to Gibraltar in just 21 days with an average speed of 12 knots. Here, acting as a flagship for two years, Ohio served to protect commerce and suppress slave trade off the African coast. After her mission to the Mediterranean, she returned to Boston. In December 1846, the U.S.S. Ohio was re-commissioned under the command of Captain Silas H. Stringham and had an extended tour in the waters in and around South America. She participated in the War with Mexico, and helped to keep order off of California during the Gold Rush. She returned to the Boston Navy Yard on April 25, 1849 and was decommissioned on May 3, 1850. In the present work, 136 figures can be counted on the deck of this impressive ship.

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