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Catalog entry

inv. 413
Steam Demi Bark Antelope
Steam Demi-Bark "Antelope"
c. 1855
Colored lithograph on paper
8 1/8 x 14 1/4 in. (20.6 x 36.2 cm) (sheet) 32.5 x 40 cm
Signed across bottom: Steam Demi Bark ANTELOPE, 615 tons. From a painting by F.H.Lane. By J.H. Bufford's Lith. 260 Washington St., Boston Lithographed expressly for the Nautical Magazine
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Commentary

In 1855 the Nautical Magazine published an article on R.B. Forbes's steam demi-bark, "Antelope." The article included a lithograph of the vessel made after a painting by Lane. J. P. Newell is signed on the stone in the lower right corner, indicating that he was the artist who lithographed Lane's design. The lithograph for the magazine was printed on tissue-weight paper, and hand-colored. (for example, Steam demi bark Antelope, 615 tons, c.1855 (inv. 375)) A stand-alone version (Steam demi bark Antelope, 615 tons, c.1855 (inv. 740)) was printed on a heavier paper, hand-colored and printed with a tint stone outlining the sky. This lithograph is a third version which has an inscription indicating the original place of publication in the Nautical Magazine. The painting from which this lithograph was made is likely the grisaille painting The "Antelope", 1855 (inv. 678).

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Related Work in the Catalog

Historical Materials
Below is historical information related to the Lane work above. To see complete information on a subject on the Historical Materials page, click on the subject name (in bold and underlined).

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PDF
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publication
List of ships owned by R. B. Forbes
Robert Bennet Forbes
1876
Table within book

From R. B. Forbes, Personal Reminiscences (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., first published 1876).

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PDF
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publication
The Japan and China Packet Propeller Antelope
John W. Griffiths
In U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal 3 (October 1855). Published by Griffiths, Bates and Co., New York.
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The steam demi-bark "Antelope" was designed jointly by Samuel Hall and Samuel H. Pook and built in Hall's shipyard at East Boston in 1855. The design concept and construction were closely overseen by Robert Bennet Forbes; the machinery was constructed by Otis Tufts and turned a Griffith propeller. Designed for traveling in pirate-infested Far Eastern waters, the vessel was heavily armed, even fitted out with a pump able to throw hot water from her boilers to a distance of 100 yards. Even the term "demi-bark" was novel, as the barkentine rig was then a novelty itself. John W. Griffiths, in describing this vessel, proposed the term "brigantern," a cross between "brigantine" and "tern," the latter term for a three-mast schooner.

This vessel was described at length by Griffiths in The U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal 3 (October 1855), 11–17, including Lane's lithograph.

– Erik Ronnberg

PDF
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publication
Auxiliary Steamships and R.B. Forbes
Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt
"The American Neptune"
vol. 1, no. 1
January 1941
pp. 51-57
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PDF
view ]
publication
List of ships owned by R. B. Forbes
Robert Bennet Forbes
1876
Table within book

From R. B. Forbes, Personal Reminiscences (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., first published 1876).

[+]
PDF
view ]
publication
The Japan and China Packet Propeller Antelope
John W. Griffiths
In U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal 3 (October 1855). Published by Griffiths, Bates and Co., New York.
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Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)

See IMPRESSIONS tab for provenance.

Exhibition History

2017–18 Cape Ann Museum: Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, Drawn From Nature & on Stone: The Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)].

Published References

Wilmerding 1963: "The Lithographs of Fitz Hugh Lane," fig. 1, p. 34. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)].
American Neptune 1965: The American Neptune, Pictorial Supplement VII: A Selection of Marine Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865, plate XXIV, no. 177. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)]. ⇒ includes text
Wilmerding 1988c: American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, fig. 11, ill. in b/w, p. 70. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)].
Cape Ann Museum 2017: Drawn from Nature & on Stone: the Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane, fig. 65. [Impression: The Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)]. ⇒ includes text

Impression information

The Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)

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Photo: Mariners' Museum (inv. 739)
Signed across bottom: Steam Demi Bark ANTELOPE, 615 tons. From a painting by F.H.Lane. By J.H. Bufford's Lith. 260 Washington St., Boston Lithographed expressly for the Nautical Magazine.
Courtesy of The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Va. (1935.0674.000001 / LP 0517)
Citation: "Steam Demi Bark Antelope, c. 1855 (inv. 413)." Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/catalog/entry.php?id=413 (accessed March 29, 2024).
Record last updated August 15, 2017. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
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