
The rolling waves and swirls of smoke in this painting convey the noise and excitement of battle. To patriotic nineteenth-century Americans, the victory of the frigate United States over the British ship Macedonian in 1812 marked a triumph against British sea power. Off the Canary Islands, Stephen Decatur’s ship damaged the Macedonian’s hull, dismasted, and captured her. Decatur became an American hero who famously proclaimed “Our country-…may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.“
Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
- Title
-
Capture of H.B.M. Frigate Macedonian by U.S. Frigate United States, October 25, 1812
- Artist
- Date
- 1852
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 34 7⁄8 x 50 1⁄4 in. (88.6 x 127.5 cm.)
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Sheldon and Caroline Keck in honor of Elizabeth Broun
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Architecture – boat – Macedonia
- Architecture – boat – United States
- Object Number
-
1992.18
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI