THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE

Circa 1820. Artist is unknown. Oil on canvas measuring 21 X 32 inches.

An exceptional marine oil painting after an earlier painting or illustration- probably the painting by Powell, depicting the defeat of the British squadron by Commodore Perry, near Put-in-Bay, Ohio, September 10, 1813. This exceptional folk painting depicts the British flotilla and the American vessels consisting of two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop engaged in battle. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry is centered in the front of the painting leaving the LAWRENCE in a rowing skiff to board the Brig NIAGARA. Perry's battle flag flies bravely above the remains of the U.S.S. Lawrence main mast emblazoned with the phrase: "Don't Give Up the Ship." The flag was transferred to her sister ship, the eventual Flagship, the Brig Niagara. Perry's words to William Henry Harrison, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," have become forever immortalized.

This painting has been relined and has minimal losses of any kind. A small section along the right edge of the canvas, measuring 3/4" X 3" was restored and in-painted. Written in pencil on the top left corner on the back of the canvas states "Cleaned and relined August 28-38 (or 58) Otto Moeller". Retains the original yellow pine stretcher.

A similar painting of the Battle of Lake Erie attributed to the same artist is currently in the Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller Museum archives, Williamsburg, Virginia. (ACC. no 1970-111.1)