Ship "Arkansas" Leaving Havana

Ship 'Arkansas' Leaving Havana from 1847 is an anonymous American marine painting depicting a ship departing from Havana harbor in the tradition of American ship portraiture that was popular in the 19th century. The ship portrait follows the conventions of the genre—the vessel shown broadside with sails set, often with a pilot boat or other harbor craft in the background—and the Havana setting indicates that the Arkansas was engaged in the coastal or Caribbean trade that was central to American maritime commerce in the 1840s. The 1847 date places this in the period of American expansion and maritime commerce that preceded the Civil War.

Ship 'Arkansas' Leaving Havana is important in the history of American marine painting because it documents the Caribbean maritime commerce that was central to the American economy in the 1840s. The Havana setting records the Caribbean trade routes that connected American ports to the sugar and coffee economies of the Caribbean, and the ship portrait genre satisfies the desire of ship owners and captains for visual records of their vessels.

Ship 'Arkansas' Leaving Havana is American maritime portraiture documenting Caribbean trade: a ship departing Havana harbor in the ship portrait conventions that American owners and captains commissioned to record their vessels. The 1847 painting documents the Caribbean maritime commerce that was central to the American economy before the Civil War.