J. Hamer (19th Century), The "Resolute" abandoned and drifting out ('H.M.S. "Resolute" one of the five vessels in search of Sir J. Franklin, abandoned in 1854')
J. Hamer (19th Century)
The "Resolute" abandoned and drifting out ('H.M.S. "Resolute" one of the five vessels in search of Sir J. Franklin, abandoned in 1854')
signed with initials 'J.H.' (lower left), titled 'H.M.S. Resolute' on an old label on the reverse of the frame
oil on canvas
24 x 36in. (60.9 x 91.4cm.)
Sold with an autograph letter by the artist dated 'July .. 1880', an exhibition label ('H.M.S. "Resolute." / 40 guineas'), and a glazed case containing several pieces of the Resolute's timber, 'Hair lining (lower deck) to retain heat', and a 'Fragment of drift wood found at the highest Northern latitude ever trodden by man! "Alert Expedition"'
Hamer's subject here is HMS Resolute on Belcher's disastrous Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-54. Captain Kellett's ship, a barque strengthened for Arctic work, was frozen in in August 1853 off the shore of Viscount Melville Sound and abandoned in the spring of 1854. Hamer paints it in its subsequent one-thousand-mile drift through the Canadian Arctic. The ghost ship was recovered adrift off Baffin Island by an American whaler in 1855, its extraordinary discovery reported in the New York papers in October 1856:
Everything wore the silence of the tomb. Finally reaching the cabin door they broke in, and found their way in the darkness to the table. On it they accidentally turned on a box of lucifer matches; in a moment one was ignited, the glowing light revealed a candle; it was lit and before the astonished gaze of these men exposed a scene that appeared to be rather one of enchantment than reality. Upon a massive table was a metal teapot, glistening as if new, also a large volume of Scott's family Bible, together with glasses and decanters filled with choice liquors. Near by was Captain Kellett's chair, a piece of massive furniture, over which had been thrown, as if to protect this seat from vulgar occupation, the royal flag of Great Britain.
She was returned by the Americans to Queen Victoria in 1856, and broken up for timber in 1879 (a small display case including timber relics from the ship accompanies this lot). Three desks were made at Chatham from the timbers, one known as the Resolute desk presented to the American President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880s, and reinstated in the Oval Office by John F. Kennedy in 1961. The breaking up of the Resolute for timber in 1879-80 clearly prompted Hamer to paint the ship in 1880.
The artist is to be identified with the 'J. Hamer' who exhibited a drawing at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and two pictures of Sir Leopold McClintock's Franklin Search vessel Fox in the Arctic sea at the Royal Academy in 1861 and 1863 (address given as 5 Lorn Street, Brixton). Another smaller picture of the Fox frozen in the Arctic, signed with initials 'J.H.' as here, and labelled 'J. Hamer' on the reverse, was sold in these Rooms, 9 May 2002, lot 52. Little is known about the artist, who was presumably one of the two sons (Joseph Greathead and Joseph Alfred) of Michael Greathead Hamer, himself the son of the Guyana plantation owner Joseph Hamer of Demerara.
Hamer did not sail on Belcher's expedition but copies of two autograph letters written by the artist in July and October 1880 offering the present and following lot for inspection by the Queen and for a Spring exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery accompany this and the following lot: ' 97 Cowley Road, Brixton. Surrey July ..th 1880 Sir, I have after very considerable difficulty & from the lapse of time recently finished a painting of H.M.S. "Resolute" lately broken up depicting her as abandoned, and in the most extraordinary drift of about 10-0-0 miles in the ice that ever occured - it has been seen by Mr Clements Markham C.B. at his residence (who has been on board her), and at the same time by the Swedish Arctic explorer Professor Nordenskjöld to whom I had the honour of being introduced, and in a letter I afterwards received was informed that "they both considered it a work of merit and a good representation of ice scenery".- I have likewise another interesting painting of H.M.S. "Alert", about to winter off Floeberg beach in the Polar Sea. ... Should Her Majesty who has always taken an interest in Arctic expeditions be graciously pleased to inspect these two, I may say, historical works of art of the "Resolute" and "Alert" will you do me the favour of naming when I may send them to Buckingham Palace or Windsor. ...'
Please note this lot is the property of a private individual.
Provenance
By descent from the artist to the present owner.
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Time, Location
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J. Hamer (19th Century)
The "Resolute" abandoned and drifting out ('H.M.S. "Resolute" one of the five vessels in search of Sir J. Franklin, abandoned in 1854')
signed with initials 'J.H.' (lower left), titled 'H.M.S. Resolute' on an old label on the reverse of the frame
oil on canvas
24 x 36in. (60.9 x 91.4cm.)
Sold with an autograph letter by the artist dated 'July .. 1880', an exhibition label ('H.M.S. "Resolute." / 40 guineas'), and a glazed case containing several pieces of the Resolute's timber, 'Hair lining (lower deck) to retain heat', and a 'Fragment of drift wood found at the highest Northern latitude ever trodden by man! "Alert Expedition"'
Hamer's subject here is HMS Resolute on Belcher's disastrous Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-54. Captain Kellett's ship, a barque strengthened for Arctic work, was frozen in in August 1853 off the shore of Viscount Melville Sound and abandoned in the spring of 1854. Hamer paints it in its subsequent one-thousand-mile drift through the Canadian Arctic. The ghost ship was recovered adrift off Baffin Island by an American whaler in 1855, its extraordinary discovery reported in the New York papers in October 1856:
Everything wore the silence of the tomb. Finally reaching the cabin door they broke in, and found their way in the darkness to the table. On it they accidentally turned on a box of lucifer matches; in a moment one was ignited, the glowing light revealed a candle; it was lit and before the astonished gaze of these men exposed a scene that appeared to be rather one of enchantment than reality. Upon a massive table was a metal teapot, glistening as if new, also a large volume of Scott's family Bible, together with glasses and decanters filled with choice liquors. Near by was Captain Kellett's chair, a piece of massive furniture, over which had been thrown, as if to protect this seat from vulgar occupation, the royal flag of Great Britain.
She was returned by the Americans to Queen Victoria in 1856, and broken up for timber in 1879 (a small display case including timber relics from the ship accompanies this lot). Three desks were made at Chatham from the timbers, one known as the Resolute desk presented to the American President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880s, and reinstated in the Oval Office by John F. Kennedy in 1961. The breaking up of the Resolute for timber in 1879-80 clearly prompted Hamer to paint the ship in 1880.
The artist is to be identified with the 'J. Hamer' who exhibited a drawing at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and two pictures of Sir Leopold McClintock's Franklin Search vessel Fox in the Arctic sea at the Royal Academy in 1861 and 1863 (address given as 5 Lorn Street, Brixton). Another smaller picture of the Fox frozen in the Arctic, signed with initials 'J.H.' as here, and labelled 'J. Hamer' on the reverse, was sold in these Rooms, 9 May 2002, lot 52. Little is known about the artist, who was presumably one of the two sons (Joseph Greathead and Joseph Alfred) of Michael Greathead Hamer, himself the son of the Guyana plantation owner Joseph Hamer of Demerara.
Hamer did not sail on Belcher's expedition but copies of two autograph letters written by the artist in July and October 1880 offering the present and following lot for inspection by the Queen and for a Spring exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery accompany this and the following lot: ' 97 Cowley Road, Brixton. Surrey July ..th 1880 Sir, I have after very considerable difficulty & from the lapse of time recently finished a painting of H.M.S. "Resolute" lately broken up depicting her as abandoned, and in the most extraordinary drift of about 10-0-0 miles in the ice that ever occured - it has been seen by Mr Clements Markham C.B. at his residence (who has been on board her), and at the same time by the Swedish Arctic explorer Professor Nordenskjöld to whom I had the honour of being introduced, and in a letter I afterwards received was informed that "they both considered it a work of merit and a good representation of ice scenery".- I have likewise another interesting painting of H.M.S. "Alert", about to winter off Floeberg beach in the Polar Sea. ... Should Her Majesty who has always taken an interest in Arctic expeditions be graciously pleased to inspect these two, I may say, historical works of art of the "Resolute" and "Alert" will you do me the favour of naming when I may send them to Buckingham Palace or Windsor. ...'
Please note this lot is the property of a private individual.
Provenance
By descent from the artist to the present owner.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
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