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Article: Museum accessions.
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- August 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Old Ironsides
Portraits of well-known men were the first category of paintings done in the American colonies; but not far behind these depictions came portraits of ships. At first they were usually single vessels done for their owners, but by the time of the War of 1812 the fledgling United States Navy consisted of a few warships, and an interest in scenes of American sea battles was born. This was not a popular war, but even those who opposed it regarded the extraordinary defeat by the United States built and manned frigate Constitution over the British frigate Guerriere on August 19, 1812, as a major triumph; both the ship and its captain were widely lauded.
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