Image scanned and/or photographed, then color-corrected by Pat Cagney.

The Hartford Passing the Hygeia Hotel and Fortress Monroe, Va.

Artist John Wilson (American, born 1827)

CultureAmerican

Date1862

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 34 x 57 in. (86.4 x 144.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 43 x 66 1/4 in. (109.2 x 168.3 cm)

InscribedSigned and dated on small boat in foreground: "J. Wilson / 1862"

Credit LineThe Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA

Object number63.11.1

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. It depicts a screw sloop, with a wood hull, named the USS Hartford. In the background you can see Fort Monroe and the Hygaeia Hotel. The water is rough; a small row boat is in the foreground with the date inscribed on its' side.

Label TextJohn Wilson American, 1821–1870 The Hartford Passing the Hygeia Hotel and Fortress Monroe, Virginia, 1862 Oil on canvas In 1862, the steamer Hartford left the Chesapeake Bay as the flagship of a large Union fleet. Here it sails past Fort Monroe in Hampton and the original Hygeia Hotel, which served as a hospital during the Civil War and was destroyed by fire later that year. Under the command of Admiral David G. Farragut (1801–1870), the Hartford later led the Union Navy to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. Museum purchase, Norfolk Newspapers’ Art Trust Fund 63.11.1 Exhibition History"Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Sacred Sites, Then and Now: The American Civil War," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., May 1 to August 30, 1998. "The Norfolk Rooms," Willoughby-Baylor House, Norfolk, VA, opened August 16, 2014.