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  THIRTEEN
  HISTORICAL
  MARINE
  PAINTINGS

  BY

  EDWARD MORAN

  REPRESENTING
  THIRTEEN CHAPTERS
  OF
  AMERICAN HISTORY

  [Decoration]

  By THEODORE SUTRO

  1905

  [Illustration: Copyright, 1905, by Theodore Sutro.

  EDWARD MORAN
  From a painting by Thomas Sidney Moran]




  THIRTEEN CHAPTERS
  OF
  AMERICAN HISTORY

  REPRESENTED
  BY THE
  EDWARD MORAN
  SERIES OF
  THIRTEEN HISTORICAL
  MARINE PAINTINGS

  [Decoration]

  _By_ THEODORE SUTRO

  1905

  NEW YORK:

  THEODORE SUTRO, 280 BROADWAY

  AND

  THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO.
  PUBLISHER'S AGENTS,
  33-37 EAST 17TH STREET.

  _$1.50 net._

  Copyright, 1905, by Theodore Sutro




  To

  _My Dear Wife_

  FLORENCE

  THROUGH WHOSE STEADFAST FRIENDSHIP FOR
  MR. AND MRS. EDWARD MORAN AND LOYAL DEVOTION
  TO ME, I WAS LED TO CHAMPION, AND
  ENCOURAGED TO PERSEVERE IN ESTABLISHING,
  THE RIGHTS OF THE WIDOW TO THESE MASTERWORKS,
  WITHOUT WHICH THE OCCASION FOR
  PENNING THESE PAGES WOULD NOT HAVE ARISEN--THIS
  LITTLE WORK IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED,
  ON THE
  TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF OUR MARRIAGE,
  October 1st, 1904.




  TABLE OF CONTENTS.


                                                                  PAGE.

  FRONTISPIECE--Portrait of Edward Moran, from a painting by
        THOMAS SIDNEY MORAN

  INTRODUCTORY                                                        7

  BIOGRAPHICAL                                                       15

  PORTRAIT OF MRS. EDWARD MORAN, from a painting by
        THOMAS SIDNEY MORAN                            Facing page   20

  DESCRIPTIVE AND EXPLANATORY:

  I. THE OCEAN--THE HIGHWAY OF ALL NATIONS                           27

  II. LANDING OF LIEF ERICKSON IN THE NEW WORLD IN
      THE YEAR 1001                                                  33

  III. THE SANTA MARIA, NINA AND PINTA (Evening of October
       11th, 1492)                                                   39

  IV. THE DEBARKATION OF COLUMBUS (Morning of October
      12th, 1492)                                                    39

  V. MIDNIGHT MASS ON THE MISSISSIPPI, OVER THE BODY OF
     FERDINAND DE SOTO, 1542                                         47

  VI. HENRY HUDSON ENTERING NEW YORK BAY, September
      11th, 1609                                                     53

  VII. EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS FROM SOUTHAMPTON,
       August 5th, 1620                                              59

  VIII. FIRST RECOGNITION OF THE AMERICAN FLAG BY A
        FOREIGN GOVERNMENT. In the Harbor of Quiberon,
        France, February 13th, 1778                                  67

  IX. BURNING OF THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA. In the Harbor
      of Tripoli, February 16th, 1804                                73

  X. THE BRIG ARMSTRONG ENGAGING THE BRITISH FLEET.
     In the Harbor of Fayal, September 26th, 1814                    79

  XI. IRON VERSUS WOOD--SINKING OF THE CUMBERLAND BY
      THE MERRIMAC. In Hampton Roads, March 8th, 1862                87

  XII. THE WHITE SQUADRON'S FAREWELL SALUTE TO THE
       BODY OF CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON, New York Bay,
       August 25th, 1890                                             95

  XIII. RETURN OF THE CONQUERORS. Typifying Our Victory
        in the late Spanish-American War, September 29th, 1899      105

  INDEX                                                             111




  INTRODUCTORY

  [Illustration: T. S. M.]




  INTRODUCTORY.


The Thirteen Paintings, to a history and description of which (and
incidentally to a brief memoir of their creator, Edward Moran) these
pages are devoted, are monumental in their character and importance. Mr.
Moran designated them as representing the "Marine History of the United
States." I have somewhat changed this title; for even the untraversed
"Ocean" and the landing of Columbus in the new world represent periods
which necessarily affect the whole American Continent.

The conception of these pictures was in itself a mark of genius, for no
more fitting subjects could have been chosen by the greatest marine
painter in the United States than the heroic and romantic incidents
connected with the sea, which are so splendidly depicted in these
thirteen grand paintings. That their execution required over fifteen
years of ceaseless labor and the closest historical study is not
surprising. The localities, the ships, the armament, the personages, the
costumes, the weapons and all the incidents connected with each epoch
are minutely and correctly represented, in so far as existing records
rendered that possible. And yet, interwoven with each canvas, is a tone
so poetic and imaginative that stamps it at once as the offspring of
genius and lifts it far above the merely photographic and realistic. The
series is the result of a life of prolific production, careful study,
unceasing industry and great experience.

Mr. Moran himself regarded these pictures as his crowning work, and in
token of his many happy years of married life presented them, several
years before his death, to his wife, Annette Moran, herself an artist of
great merit, and whom he always mentioned as his best critic and the
inspirer of his greatest achievements. This loving act, strange to say,
gave rise to a protracted legal controversy, by reason of an adverse
claim to these paintings made by the executor of the estate of Edward
Moran, the final decision of which in favor of the widow, after three
years of litigation, lends additional interest to these remarkable works
of art. Proceedings to recover the pictures from the executor of the
estate, who had them in his possession and refused to deliver them to
her, were commenced on February 5, 1902, and after a trial in the
Supreme Court in the City of New York lasting several days, a jury
decided that the pictures were the property of the widow as claimed. On
a technical point of law raised by the executor this finding of the jury
was temporarily rendered ineffective, but, on an appeal to the Appellate
Division of the Supreme Court, this technicality was overruled and an
absolute judgment awarded in favor of the widow.[A] This was on January
23, 1903. Still not content, the executor appealed to the highest court
in the State, the Court of Appeals at Albany, which, on January 26,
1904, finally and absolutely affirmed the decision of the Appellate
Division.[B] But even then the widow was kept out of her property on
further applications made by the executor to the court. Also in this he
failed, and at last, on April 28, 1904, the judgment in her favor was
satisfied through the delivery of the pictures to her, as her absolute
property, beyond dispute, cavil or further question.

I have deemed it proper to make this explanation, as it is through my
connection as counsel for Mrs. Moran throughout this litigation that the
occasion has presented itself for this publication, and of giving to
the public the opportunity to examine and enjoy, to the fullest extent,
these great pictures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It may be added that although these paintings have occasionally been
viewed by artists, they have never before been publicly exhibited as a
series except for a very short period in the year 1900 in Philadelphia
and in Washington. During this time they received the highest encomiums
from critics and the press, and were pronounced the most notable series
of historic pictures ever painted in this country. While each one of the
series is a master work, it is as a group that the greatest interest
attaches to them, and it was Mr. Moran's desire, and it is also that of
the present owner, that they should, if possible, never be separated.

With reference to the exhibition of these paintings at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, I quote from a full page illustrated article which
appeared in the New York _Herald_ on Sunday, November 6, 1904, as
follows:

     "The exhibition of these pictures of scenes connected with the
     history of the United States is not only an artistic but an
     educational event. Edward Moran was probably the strongest marine
     painter of the United States. * * * No more artistically valuable
     and