Mississippi Steamboat
Image ID: ART038
Oil painting of 2 Mississippi steamboats on river at night with small raft foreground.
Hung in the Forbes Library Arts and Music Department, Northampton, MA.
The work of nationally known American portrait and landscape painter, George F. Fuller of Deerfield (1822-1844), the painting depicts a steamboat race on a misty, moonlit night on the Mississippi River. The two boats, the "Baltic" and the "Diana", race along the river, while people on the raft look on.
During the 1850's Fuller traveled to the South to seek portrait commissions; at the same time, he sketched scenes of the life he witnessed there. It is known that he spent some time in Mobil, Alabama. Perhaps it was then that he traveled west to Mississippi for a view of life on the river. The painting was done before 1859,* the year he returned to Deerfield to take over his late father's tobacco business. When he returned full-time to the art world in 1876, he used the Connecticut Valley, in general, (if not a specific geographic spot) as the spiritual backdrop for many of his works.
The almost-mystical river painting, more associated in mood with Fuller's later works, was presented to Forbes in 1952 by frequent Library benefactor, Florence Moody Porter Lyman, at the time of her move from Roland Hill. She was the widow of entrepreneur Frank A. Lyman "of Fort Hill and Brooklyn," son of E.H.R. Lyman, benefactor of the Academy of Music. The Lymans were married years earlier, in 1903, in a ceremony performed by President Seelye of Smith College, uncle of the bride. It is not known whether the Fuller painting was brought to the marriage by Florence or Frank, or acquired by both.
Restored in 1966, the paining was lightly re-cleaned in 1992.
*There is a lithography of "Mississippi Steamboat," dated 1859, made by A. Weingartner's library, which helps us date the original.
Hung in the Forbes Library Arts and Music Department, Northampton, MA.
The work of nationally known American portrait and landscape painter, George F. Fuller of Deerfield (1822-1844), the painting depicts a steamboat race on a misty, moonlit night on the Mississippi River. The two boats, the "Baltic" and the "Diana", race along the river, while people on the raft look on.
During the 1850's Fuller traveled to the South to seek portrait commissions; at the same time, he sketched scenes of the life he witnessed there. It is known that he spent some time in Mobil, Alabama. Perhaps it was then that he traveled west to Mississippi for a view of life on the river. The painting was done before 1859,* the year he returned to Deerfield to take over his late father's tobacco business. When he returned full-time to the art world in 1876, he used the Connecticut Valley, in general, (if not a specific geographic spot) as the spiritual backdrop for many of his works.
The almost-mystical river painting, more associated in mood with Fuller's later works, was presented to Forbes in 1952 by frequent Library benefactor, Florence Moody Porter Lyman, at the time of her move from Roland Hill. She was the widow of entrepreneur Frank A. Lyman "of Fort Hill and Brooklyn," son of E.H.R. Lyman, benefactor of the Academy of Music. The Lymans were married years earlier, in 1903, in a ceremony performed by President Seelye of Smith College, uncle of the bride. It is not known whether the Fuller painting was brought to the marriage by Florence or Frank, or acquired by both.
Restored in 1966, the paining was lightly re-cleaned in 1992.
*There is a lithography of "Mississippi Steamboat," dated 1859, made by A. Weingartner's library, which helps us date the original.
Image Details
| Dublin Core | |
|---|---|
| Title |
Mississippi Steamboat
|
| Subject |
Mississippi steamboats
Mississippi river
Oil painting
|
| Description |
Oil painting of 2 Mississippi steamboats on river at night with small raft foreground.
Hung in the Forbes Library Arts and Music Department, Northampton, MA. The work of nationally known American portrait and landscape painter, George F. Fuller of Deerfield (1822-1844), the painting depicts a steamboat race on a misty, moonlit night on the Mississippi River. The two boats, the "Baltic" and the "Diana", race along the river, while people on the raft look on. During the 1850's Fuller traveled to the South to seek portrait commissions; at the same time, he sketched scenes of the life he witnessed there. It is known that he spent some time in Mobil, Alabama. Perhaps it was then that he traveled west to Mississippi for a view of life on the river. The painting was done before 1859,* the year he returned to Deerfield to take over his late father's tobacco business. When he returned full-time to the art world in 1876, he used the Connecticut Valley, in general, (if not a specific geographic spot) as the spiritual backdrop for many of his works. The almost-mystical river painting, more associated in mood with Fuller's later works, was presented to Forbes in 1952 by frequent Library benefactor, Florence Moody Porter Lyman, at the time of her move from Roland Hill. She was the widow of entrepreneur Frank A. Lyman "of Fort Hill and Brooklyn," son of E.H.R. Lyman, benefactor of the Academy of Music. The Lymans were married years earlier, in 1903, in a ceremony performed by President Seelye of Smith College, uncle of the bride. It is not known whether the Fuller painting was brought to the marriage by Florence or Frank, or acquired by both. Restored in 1966, the paining was lightly re-cleaned in 1992. *There is a lithography of "Mississippi Steamboat," dated 1859, made by A. Weingartner's library, which helps us date the original. |
| Creator |
George F. Fuller
|
| Date |
l.r. signed G.F. Fuller, fecit (made by)
|
| Format |
Oil painting
|
| Identifier |
ART038
|
| Still Image Item Type Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Physical Dimensions |
Frame size:40.75" x 51.5" x .2.5"
33" x 42.5"
|
Citation
George F. Fuller, “Mississippi Steamboat,” Forbes Library Images from the Archives (Legacy site: Pre-2022), accessed November 16, 2024, https://images.forbeslibrary.org/items/show/876.