The Constitution and the Guerriere
Born in England, Chambers worked in the United States as a prolific marine, landscape, and “fancy” painter between 1832 and about 1866. In the 1930s and 1940s, with the discovery of the Museum’s signed painting, Chambers emerged as a folk original, embraced posthumously by modern art enthusiasts as the “American Rousseau.” Here, Chambers focused his attention on a well-known marine battle in the War of 1812 featuring the U.S.S. Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides. Basing his composition on an engraving by Cornelius Tiebout after a painting by Thomas Birch, he took certain liberties with his source, advancing the action and showing the British ship, H.M.S. Guerrière, with all its masts broken.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Constitution and the Guerriere
- Artist: Thomas Chambers (1808–after 1866)
- Date: ca. 1845
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 24 3/4 x 31 1/4 in. (62.9 x 79.4 cm)
- Credit Line: Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1962
- Object Number: 62.256.5
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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