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Ship in Storm
Robert Salmon (English, 1775–1845 or after (active in the United States 1828–42))
1828
Medium/Technique
Oil on board
Dimensions
36.19 x 50.48 cm (14 1/4 x 19 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Nathaniel T. Dexter Fine Arts Trust
Accession Number2000.688
ClassificationsPaintings
Salmon painted this theatrical seascape in 1828 when he immigrated to the United States from England. Under a dramatic sky the distressed ship flounders in the strong waves and is in imminent danger of crashing into the rocks. The figures in the foreground are powerless in the face of nature's fury. The theme of ships in danger was common in the seventeenth-century Dutch painting and could symbolize the precariousness of life's journey.
InscriptionsNo 600/Painted by/Robert salmon/1828
ProvenanceThe artist; Nathaniel T. Dexter; to MFA, 2000, gift of the Nathaniel T. Dexter Fine Arts Trust.