Storm-Tossed Frigate

mid 19th century

Thomas Chambers

Artist, American, 1808 - 1866 or after

Waves surge up the sides of a masted ship illuminated by moonlight in this horizontal painting. The bow is angled to our right, and a wave breaks onto the deck as the ship tips away from us. Two of the frigate’s masts are broken close to the deck so nothing of the sails remain, and only the lowest sail near the ship’s bow remains beneath a partially broken mast. The bowsprit, which angles up and diagonally off the bow, is also fragmented. Men pull on rigging or stand the gunwale at the edge of the deck. Other waves heave like mountains across the painting in shades of slate and gunmetal blue. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and muted, dark blue clouds edged with cream white swirl like a vortex around the full moon, which is in the upper left quadrant of the painting.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from New York. Private collection, Boston; sold by October 1965 to (Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York), by whom sold in 1965 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1969.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1968

  • American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 72, repro. First venue, Grand Palais, Paris.

1970

  • American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, by the the Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., and Mainichi News., Mihobashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1970, no cat.

1975

  • Seascape and the American Imagination, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1975, 40, 43, 117 (cat. by Roger B. Stein).

1978

  • The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1985

  • Night Lights: 19th and 20th Century American Nocturne Paintings, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1985, 4, 19.

1986

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Robie Marcus Hooker Palmer, U.S. Embassy residence, Budapest, Hungary, 1986-1990.

1990

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador James R. Woolsey, U.S. Representative to the Negotiations on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, ambassadorial residence, Vienna, Austria, 1990-1993.

1999

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary William Richardson, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., 1999-2001.

2001

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Robert Zoellick, U.S. Trade Representative, Washington, D.C., 2001-2005.

2008

  • Thomas Chambers, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; The Hyde Collection Art Museum, Glens Falls; American Folk Art Museum, New York; Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, 2008-2010, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 2-3.

2019

  • The Color of the Moon: Lunar Painting in American Art, The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers; James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, 2019, no. 17, repro.

Bibliography

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 128, repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 56-58, repro. 58.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 138, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20185397

You may be interested in

Loading Results