Provenance
Commissioned 1844 by Henry S. Mulligan;[1] possibly sold to James Brown [1791-1877], New York.[2] Private collection; (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York); sold 19 May 2003 to NGA.
[1] A letter of 2 April 1844 from Henry S. Mulligan to Asher B. Durand reads in part: "I enclose my check for three hundred and fifty dollars, the price of your beautiful painting of "the stranded ship" now adorning a room at my house. Allow me here to express the entire satisfaction with which myself and family regard it, and the great pleasure I take in subscribing myself the friend of the gifted Artist." (A.B. Durand Papers, Manuscript Division, New York Public Library; quoted in David B. Lawall, _Asher B. Durand: A Documentary Catalogue of the Narrative and Landscape Paintings_, New York and London, 1978: 44, no. 90.)
[2] Lawall 1978: 45, no. 91. A list of some of Durand's principal works, published in an 1854 article, includes "The Stranded Ship, in possession of James Brown, N.Y." (E. Anna Lewis, "Art and Artists of America. Asher Brown Durand," _Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art_ XLV, no. 4 (October 1854): 321).
Accession Number
2003.71.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 94 x 129.5 cm (37 x 51 in.) | framed: 130.2 x 166.1 x 14 cm (51 1/4 x 65 3/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Ann and Mark Kington/The Kington Foundation through Millennium Funds
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
The Stranded Ship from 1844 is an unusual subject for Durand, whose reputation rests on peaceful woodland interiors and pastoral landscapes. The stranded ship—wrecked on a beach or sandbar—introduces a note of drama and danger that is more characteristic of marine painting than of Durand's usual work. The composition organizes the stranded vessel as a dark silhouette against a luminous sky, creating a tonal contrast that gives the painting a dramatic intensity unusual in Durand's oeuvre. The 1844 date places this in Durand's early career as a landscape painter, when he was still exploring different subjects and approaches before settling into his mature woodland style.
Cultural Impact
The stranded ship was a popular subject in 19th-century American painting, symbolizing the dangers of maritime commerce and the fragility of human endeavor in the face of natural power. Durand's version is distinguished from the more theatrical shipwreck paintings of his contemporaries by the topographic precision and atmospheric subtlety that characterize all his work—even the stranded ship is rendered as a specific vessel on a specific beach rather than a generic symbol of maritime disaster.
Why It Matters
The Stranded Ship is Durand's unusual foray into marine drama: a wrecked vessel on a beach, rendered with the same topographic precision that he brought to his woodland interiors. The dramatic subject is handled with characteristic restraint—the ship is a silhouette against a luminous sky, not a theatrical spectacle.
