WALKE, Henry (1808-1896, attributed)

[Original watercolour of the USS North Carolina, a ship of the line, off the mountainous coast of Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]

[circa 1836-1839]. Watercolour on paper mounted on original card. Watercolour size: 13 x 21 7/8 inches. Card size: 14 x 23 inches.

A striking watercolour of the USS North Carolina attributed to Henry A. Walke, showing the great American sailing warship standing offshore beneath towering coastal peaks of the Sugarloaf Mountain at the entrance of Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro.

The ship is presented broadside under extensive sail and flying a U.S. ensign at the stern. Its scale and form are those of a major Naval vessel of the period, with two clear rows of gun ports along the hull and a substantial stern with gallery windows. Smaller sailing craft are shown in the distance. The background topography, dominated by a rounded granite peak at the harbour mouth with clustered heights beyond, shows the entrance to Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro, with the prominent peak of Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar), a landmark frequently depicted in nineteenth-century harbour views. The present watercolour accompanied a broken album of four plates from Walke's extremely rare Naval Portfolio, which depicts scenes from the Mexican-American war. The ship depicted here is the USS North Carolina. Walke had a documented association with this ship during his early career as a U.S. Naval officer when he served with the Pacific Squadron between January 1836 and June 1839 aboard the ship during a period when American warships regularly called at Rio de Janeiro as an important Atlantic staging post and port-of-call for provisioning, communications, and the protection of U.S. maritime interests connected with South American and Pacific trade routes. As an on-the-spot study, the watercolour offers a rare glimpse of Walke's working method and preserves the immediacy of his first-hand observation.

McManus, Brooke, Guide to Henry Walke Artwork, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (June 2022).

Item #40877

Price: $12,500.00