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A Night Scene. The Cable Entangled and Nearly Broken, July 18th, 1866

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts | CC0 1.0

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Date

1865-1866

Artist

Robert Charles Dudley (1826-1909)

Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image Link

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/364362

Description

One of the 19th century's great technological achievements was to lay a telegraphic cable beneath the Atlantic, allowing messages to speed back and forth between North America and Europe in minutes, rather than ten or twelve days by steamer. An initially successful attempt in 1858, led by Cyrus W. Field and financed by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, failed after three weeks. Two working cables were finally laid in July and September 1866, the result of repeated efforts by the indefatigable Field, a cadre of engineers, technicians, and sailors, two groups of financial backers, and significant help from the British and United States navies. Dudley documented the process in a series of watercolors and oils, this example showing a disaster avoided on board the Great Eastern, one third of the way through the 1866 cross-Atlantic expedition. In 1892 Field donated art works by Dudley, commemorative medals, memorabilia, and specimens of cable to the Museum. Medium: watercolor over graphite with touches of gouache.

Image Licence

CC0 1.0

Image Credit

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts

Location

Atlantic Ocean

Medium

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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform