I have this old watercolor painting of the USS Maine and I recently discovered a mystery about it

[moobu2]

My old watercolor on the right looks to be associated with this other print of a 1898 watercolor on the left though I'm not sure how they are connected. The image of the Maine on the left was reproduced as a print sometime around when the USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor (it's signed and dated 1898). The USS Maine blowing up and sinking in Havana Harbor along with some other stresses and strains allegedly caused the Spanish American War. Now, I've had my watercolor for decades but it's history is lost to me. One day a couple of weeks ago I started Google searching for information about the Maine and came across the image on the left. If you compare the images with each other you'll see that the characters are in exactly the same positions on both of them and the perspective is the same. 2 guys on the foreword crows nest and 1 on the lookout stand on the mast, 3 on the bow and even one in the rear life boat etc... My watercolor isn't as sophisticated but looks great in person. It has that wavy antique glass with bubble inclusions with the original mat and frame. I took mine out of the frame for the photo because if the glare of the glass etc... Wonder why they're similar? hmmmmmm.

[csziggy]

1. Could be an aspiring artist used the one on the left as a model

To make his own copy that you ended up with. A lot of artists used to do that as a way to learn techniques. It would explain why the perspective on your version is a little skewed.

For instance, I have a lovely pen and ink drawing of three horse heads which was given to me by a friend of my great aunt's. It was drawn be her brother who was studying art but who died young.

I found out that it is actually a copy of "The Pharoh's Horses" by John Frederick Herring. That picture was painted about 1850 and became very popular, made into numerous lithographs, sold in various formats, even sold by Sears in their 1902 catalog. It's even popular as a tattoo!



http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/john-frederick-herring-snr-1-c-2yr3h0p8jq

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yes, that's my vote. I tried doing that a few times, and always got a skewed perspective too.

[Duer 157099]

2. Or could it be that both are based on a famous photo?

Artists also often painted from photos. :shrug:

[bluedigger]

3. Probabably an amateur copy.

From your description, the frame may be considerably older than the painting. I'd probably open it up and make sure there isn't an original Declaration of Independance on the reverse...;)

[moobu2]

4. On closer inspection

I see as many differences as similarities. At first, I thought my watercolor was copied from the watercolor I found on the net on the left - because of the similar perspective and the way the smoke is flowing on both and the number and location of the guys on deck etc... but, there are 3 guys on the bow on both but on mine there's 1 guy on the outside of the flag pole and on the watercolor on the left the 3 guys are all on the inside of the pole. There are many subtle differences like that that leads me to believe that mine was not a copy of the watercolor on the left. Now, I'm thinking that both watercolors were different interpretations by different people of the same published photograph. In my searching I found dozens and dozens of photographs of the USS Maine. Perhaps there were some many photographs because the USS Maine represented the cutting edge of military technology at the time - 1888-1898. Because of the original frame on mine, and the original glass (wavy and air bubbles) and paper oxidation I'm pretty sure mine was painted around the same time the other one was. Still searching.....

[csziggy]

7. As you say, there were lots of pictures, photo and artist renditions of the USS Maine

Here is a page that has a lot of them: http://www.twc-transcribing.com/USSMaine/ussmaine_home.htm

The picture at the top is "The Last Sunset of The USS Maine" and the one we've been comparing. But if you go to the page of B&W photos, there are a number of photos that are from a similar angle.

[hedgehog]

6. Also, in the one on the left, the guy standing by the anchor is

upset because he got a Dear John letter and has just thrown his girl friend's photo overboard.