Harvard Art Museums > TL42458.2: Ships Unloading, New York Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Ships Unloading, New York (Samuel Colman) , TL42458.2,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/377172. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text The compositional references of Colman’s impressive bustling port scene are as rich as the shifting histories of global maritime trade and postbellum ambivalence depicted. The curvilinear depth of field—drawn from Claude Lorrain through to Asher B. Durand—provides us with a knowing yet removed view of the famed packet cargo ship "Glad Tidings" being unloaded. "Glad Tidings" was one of the first ships to resume the export of North American cotton to England after the U.S. Civil War. Overstuffed bales (and the enslaved and sharecropping persons whose labor cultivated the cash crop) are juxtaposed with leaking barrels of petroleum (and the largely Irish and German-speaking immigrants who served as coopers and drilled and refined crude). The wind power that drove early-modern global commerce until the mid-19th century is being contrasted with the ascendant steam-powered vessels and fuel resource that would come to define the 20th century. [label included image of wood engraving of "The ship Glad Tidings, with a cargo of American Cotton..." (Illustrated London News, Nov. 4, 1865)] Identification and Creation Object Number TL42458.2 People Samuel Colman, American (Portland, ME 1832 - 1920 New York, NY) Title Ships Unloading, New York Classification Paintings Work Type painting Date 1868 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/377172 Location Location Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Oil on canvas mounted on board Dimensions 104.9 × 76 cm (41 5/16 × 29 15/16 in.) Frame: 127 × 97.5 cm (50 × 38 3/8 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: lower left: S. Colman 1868 Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection Object Number TL42458.2 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Exhibition History 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/20/2023 - 03/20/2026 Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
