An August Morning with Farragut

(On the Cover)

An August Morning with Farragut

William Overend was commissioned by the Fine Art Society in London, England, to paint this massive (10 feet x 6.5 feet) painting. A British artist, Overend traveled to the United States to research the project, including sketching the USS Hartford warship, collecting photographs and uniforms, and interviewing survivors.

The design was inspired by an account of the Battle of Mobile Bay, written by J. C. Kinney in 1881. In Overend's painting, the viewer sees the ironclad CSS Tennessee on the right scraping alongside the USS Hartford after attempting to ram the wood-hauled Hartford. Sailors clamor to their stations, firing cannon at pointblank range at the Tennessee, while Admiral Farragut stands on the edge of the rope rigging in a strong and commanding pose. It was during the Battle of Mobile Bay that Farragut is credited to exclaim, "Damn the torpedoes!"; a reference to navel mines, not modern torpedoes.

A Popular Painting

Readers will notice the differences in color, vibrancy, and (on close inspection) details between the image above and the photograph on the cover. Soon after the painting's completion, reproduction prints in color and black & white were sold in England and the U.S. The original painting also toured the U.S.; shown in several cities including Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cedar Rapids, and Hartford. The painting's current home is the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT. The image above is a color reproduction print created by an unknown artist.

Cover: Oil on canvas. Source: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Above: Color reproduction print. Source: reddit.com/r/battlepaintings