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Maker(s):H.B.L.
Culture:American, 19th century
Title:A Conflagration in a City on the Eastern Seaboard
Date Made:1861
Type:Painting
Materials:oil on canvas
Place Made:United States
Measurements:stretcher: 22 1/8 x 30 1/8 in.; 56.1975 x 76.5175 cm
Narrative Inscription:  initialed and dated at lower center: H.B.L. 1861
Accession Number:  SC 1990.5.14
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Max Seltzer (Selma Pelonsky, class of 1919)
Museum Collection:  Smith College Museum of Art
1990_5_14.jpg

Description:
city; water; transportation; watercraft

Label Text:
The identity of the artist, whose initials are "H.B.L.", and of the harbor city shown in flames is unknown. The date, 1861, suggests that this may be a Civil War scene. It is possible that the painting represents a Union attack on a Confederate city early in the war, but the presence of an American flag in the picture argues otherwise. Various harbor cities known to have had major fires in or around 1861, such as Portsmouth, Virginia (a naval yard fire), and Charleston, North Carolina, have been investigated as the site depicted here. New Bedford has also been suggested. It is possible that the entire scene is an invention, but if so, it is a complex work of imagination.

Subjects:
Cities and towns; Fires; Water; Canvas

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1990.5.14

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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