MICHAEL J. DEVINE
The Historical Paintings
of William Henry Powell
In 1865 the Ohio General Assembly
commissioned William Henry
Powell to paint a large historic picture
depicting the heroic naval victory
of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and his
men over the British in
the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. A
former resident of Cincinnati, Powell
had won fame in the eastern urban
centers of the United States as well
as European capitals, and his majestic
"Perry's Victory" hung in
Ohio's capitol for over one hundred
years as one of the state's most
valuable art treasures.' However, from
its inception the painting was
a controversial item. Questions arose
concerning what seemed to be an
excessive payment for the work, critics
attacked the quality of the
painting and its historical accuracy,
and public confusion developed
when the artist painted an almost
identical version of "Perry's Victory"
for the United States Capitol. This
study of William Henry Powell
and his work seeks to detail Powell's
remarkable career as an artist
of historical scenes, examine the
politics surrounding the commissioning
of Powell by political leaders conscious
of the public's growing taste
for historical art, and assess Powell's
works and the public reactions
they generated.
Powell was the product of an unusual,
brilliant flowering of portrait
and landscape artists in frontier
Cincinnati which included such diverse
talents as Thomas Worthington
Whittridge, James H. Beard, Lilly
Martin Spencer, Abraham G. D. Tuthill,
and John P. Frankenstein.
Born in New York on February 14, 1823,
Powell moved to Cincinnati
with his family at the age of seven, and
he soon demonstrated a
Michael J. Devine is Executive Director
of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of
Colleges and Universities.
1. "Perry's Victory" was
removed from the Capitol while the rotunda was being
painted in 1967 and placed in storage by
the Department of Public Works. Recently,
however, the Ohio Historical Society has
had the painting restored with funds provided
by the Ohio American Revolution
Bicentennial Advisory Commission and it is once
again on display in the Capitol. Two
companion paintings, "The Wright Brothers"
painted by Dwight Mutchler (1959) and
"Edison" by Howard Chandler Christy (1950),
have been locked in storage since 1967
in the care of the Ohio Historical Society.
Christy's "Greenville Treaty"
(1945) is still on public display in the statehouse. See
report of Charles Pratt to Ohio
Historical Society Board of Trustees, July 8, 1967,
Ohio Historical Society Records.
66 OHIO
HISTORY
remarkable talent for drawing. In 1835,
at a time when the city was
experiencing an awakening as a cultural
center, young Powell's portrait
of the legendary Scottish chieftain
Rodrich Dhru attracted the attention
of Nicholas Longworth, Cincinnati's
leading patron of the arts, who
provided Powell with financial
assistance and encouragement to seek
the best training available, which at
that time meant study in the cities
of America's eastern seaboard and the
cultural centers of Europe.
Longworth also provided Powell with the
appropriate letters of intro-
duction to allow him entry into the
eastern academies.2 Although
painting was by the 1840s becoming a
respected profession in midwestern
cities such as Cincinnati, for an
aspiring artist with Powell's talent
the major cities of the East and Europe
were the only places which
offered the training, recognition, and
financial rewards which would
allow a painter to devote his full time
to his profession. Thus Powell's
initial recogniton came in the usual
manner-as a portrait painter; how-
ever, he displayed more versatility
than his contemporaries in Ohio and
developed into a landscape and
historical painter, an increasingly
popular art form with an American
public demanding higher standards
from its artists.3
In 1837 Powell entered the New York
studio of Henry Inman, who
was to be his teacher and mentor for many
years. By the age of twenty-
five Powell was already a popular and
promising artist with a consid-
erable reputation. In 1844 he visited
Europe to further his studies in
Florence and Rome.4 Upon his
return to the United States Powell
secured, through the influence of his
friends and considerable good
fortune, a major commission from the
United States Congress which
had a dramatic effect upon his career.
In 1847 Powell won out over sixty
competitors, including Samuel
F. B. Morse, and received a commission
to paint a historical scene
for the remaining vacant panel in the
Rotunda of the United States
Capitol. This was a major coup for a
relatively young and unknown
artist. Powell's selection raised
questions in art circles, as he had no
claim to the job in terms of rank or
age. Apparently, consideration
of his early residence in the populous
state of Ohio was an important
2. Art Journal, (1879), 351; New
York Tribune, October 7,1879; Henry B.
Tuckerman, Book of Artists (New
York, 1867), 458-59. Emma J. Hollingsworth,
ed. Capitol Guide Catalogue of the
Paintings and Portraits of the Governors of Ohio
(Columbus, 1910).
3. Donald MacKenzie, "Early Ohio
Painters: Cincinnati, 1830-1850," Ohio History,
73 (Spring, 1964), 111-18, 131-32;
Eugene Roseboom, The History of the State of
Ohio, IV, The Civil War Years, 1850-1873 (Columbus,
1944), 165.
4. Art Journal, (1879), 351; Fredrick A. Gutheim, The Federal City (Washington,
D.C., 1976), 125.
William Henry Powell
67
political factor in the selection
process, but Powell also had the backing
of influential friends in New York.5
Among those supporting Powell's
selection were prominent literary
figures, including the author Wash-
ington Irving, whose biography of
Christopher Columbus had inspired
an earlier painting by Powell depicting
Columbus before the Council
of Ecclesiastics at Salamanca. In a
letter to the library committee of
Congress, Irving wrote that Powell
"possesses genius and talent of
superior order and ... he is destined to
win great triumphs for
American art."6
Choosing for his theme "The
Discovery of the Mississippi by
DeSoto," Powell used his generous
commission of twelve thousand
dollars to return to Europe where he
worked on his assignment and
furthered his studies in Paris under
European masters, as was the
practice for American artists at this
time. While in Europe, Powell
became popular at the court of Napolean
III and befriended leading
French intellectuals such as Alexander
Dumas, Lamartine, and the
Duke de Morny. The emperor Napoleon III
approved of Powell's
work, as did most French critics, and
allowed the American painter
to use the horses in his stable as
models. After almost seven years in
France, Powell returned to the United
States with his painting which he
displayed in New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore on his way to the
capital, causing one Washington newspaper
to observe that the painting
would be "second hand" by the
time it arrived.7 However, once
unveiled before a large crowd in the
Rotunda of the United States
Capitol, the huge melodramatic painting
received a generally enthusiastic
reception. One witness observed,
"nobody could deny the fact that it
was a great success. ... we can already
pronounce that the composition
is one of the most eloquent pages of
descriptive history we possess."8
5. Henry Inman, Powell's teacher, seemed
at one time certain to receive the
coveted commission, however his ill
health and eventual death prevented him from doing
the final panel. Charles E. Fairman, Art
and Articles of the Capitol of the United
States of America. U.S. Congress, Senate Document No. 95, 69th Congress,
1st Session
(1927), 78, 105-07, 126-27, 158-59. E.
P. Richardson, Painting in America: The
Story of 450 Years, (New York, 1956), 201-02; also see Tuckerman, 458. The
story of
congressional interest in providing art
for the Capitol, which began in 1836, is detailed
in George R. Nielson, "Painting and
Politics in Jacksonian America," Capitol Studies
(Spring, 1972), 87-92.
6. Irving to Library Committee of
Congress, January 7, 1847; Henry Brevoort to
Gentlemen, January 7, 1847, Architect of
the U.S. Capitol, Records, Washington, D.C.
Hereinafter referred to as U.S. Capitol
Architect, Records. Washington Daily Intelligence,
January 20, 1847.
7. Washington Sentinel, February
1, 1855.
8. Washington Sentinel, February
17, 1855. The elaborate paintings in the Capital
Rotunda provided art critics with ample
opportunities for ridicule, and it became almost
a tradition for sophisticated observers
to criticize the Capitol's art work. One critic noted
an "over-crowded canvas" in
Powell's "DeSoto" and observed that the horses were
68 OHIO HISTORY
The prestige of having his work
displayed alongside such famous
American paintings as John Trumble's
"Declaration of Independence"
and "Surrender of Lord
Cornwallis," Robert Weir's "Embarkation of
the Pilgrims," and John Vanderlyn's
"Landing of Columbus" made
Powell a leader among his contemporaries
in the field of historical
painting. It was therefore not
surprising that his home state of Ohio
would seek to enlist his talents to help
decorate the newly completed
State Capitol in Columbus.
The year following the exhibition of
"DeSoto Discovering the Mis-
sissippi," Powell received a
commission from the Ohio General Assem-
bly to render a painting of Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry's decisive
victory over the British on Lake Erie.
The commission specified that
the painting, to be placed in the
Rotunda of the Capitol, should be
a minimum of twelve feet by sixteen feet
in size and "sufficiently
elaborate to convey full and truthful
history of that great battle."
The commission also specified that the
work was to be completed
within five years at a cost of "not
more than five thousand dollars"-
a rather modest fee, considering Powell
received twelve thousand
dollars for "DeSoto."9
To complete the painting, which would be
entitled "Perry's Victory,"
Powell worked in his studio in New York
City, and at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard. He also traveled to Rhode
Island, Perry's home state, to.
study naval vessels of the type used on
the Great Lakes during the
War of 1812. The meticulous research and
careful painting took longer
than Powell had anticipated. Meanwhile,
he supplemented his income
by doing portraits, including that of
Washington Irving which was
unveiled in April 1860 at the New York
Academy of Music amidst
great applause. This portrait,
commissioned by the New York Historical
Society to commemorate the 75th
anniversary of the author's birth,
was perhaps Powell's most successful
portrait. 10
Finally, in January 1865, almost nine
years after his original com-
mission, Powell was prepared to deliver
his finished painting to Ohio.
However, after temporarily exhibiting
the painting in Rhode Island,
Powell brought his completed painting
not to Columbus, but to
Washington, where, with the assistance
of the architect of the United
States Capitol, he temporarily exhibited
"Perry's Victory" in the
"too small and badly drawn."
George A. Townsend, Washington, Outside and Inside
(Cincinnati, 1873), 750. Also see
Richardson, Painting in America, 133; Joseph R.
Frese, Federal Patronage of Painting to
1860, Capitol Studies (Winter, 1974), 71-76.
9. Ohio General Assembly, House Joint
Resolution (April 17, 1857); Leslie's
Illustrated Newspaper, May 9, 1857, 351.
10. Art Journal(1879), 351.
William Henry Powell
69
Rotunda.11 Powell had two reasons for
taking this action: first, he was
anxious to secure another commission
from the United States Congress
and hoped that the exhibition of
"Perry's Victory" would inspire the
legislators to offer him further
employment; and second, Powell was
in the process of renegotiating his fee
with the Ohio General Assembly
and apparently wanted the Ohioans to
believe that he would sell his
painting to the United States Congress
or another buyer unless the
original commission of five thousand
dollars was increased.
In March 1865, while "Perry's
Victory" was being displayed in the
United States Capitol, Powell wrote to
the Ohio General Assembly and
claimed to have done a more elaborate
painting than was originally
requested. The artist noted that he was
faced with cost increases and
appealed for "generosity and
justice" in asking for a payment of fifteen
thousand dollars-three times the amount
originally appropriated!12
A Select Committee of members of the
Ohio General Assembly
appointed to examine the painting's
quality journeyed to Washington
to view the work and evaluate its
artistic merits. Whether the members
of the Select Committee were chosen for
their politics or aesthetic
judgment, they nevertheless reported
unanimously that they found "the
design and execution of the work
tendered to the State to be superior
to that contemplated when the picture was
ordered. . ." The committee's
report also noted that the artist was
"a distinguished citizen of Ohio"
who had spent considerable sums of his
own funds, and therefore
recommend acceptance of the painting at
the figure requested by the
artist. (Two members of the committee
dissented from this recom-
mendation, considering the artist's
demands exorbitant while agreeing
that the painting was indeed of high
quality.)13 Ultimately, the Ohio
Senate voted to instruct the Governor
to purchase the painting for ten
thousand dollars and have it installed
in the Rotunda.14 Meanwhile,
Powell received from Congress a
commission of twenty-five thousand
dollars to paint a second version of a
naval scene, to hang in the east
staircase of the Senate wing in the
United States Capitol.15
11. "Journal of B. (Benjamin) B.
(Blake) French," Library of Congress, Manuscripts
Division; New York Times, October
14, 1864. A note attached to Powell's petition
stated "The painting referred to we
have seen, and concur in the universal opinion of
its excellence." Among the signers
of this statement were Ohio's John Sherman,
Benjamin F. Wade, Salmon P. Chase and
William Dennison.
12. William Powell to Ohio General
Assembly, March 7, 1865, Ohio Historical
Society Archives, P.A., 236.
13. "Report of the Select
Committee," Ohio General Assembly. Senate Journal, 1865,
412.
14. Ohio Senate Journal, 56th
General Assembly, vol. LXI (1865), 507; Ohio State
Journal, April 12, 1865.
15. United States Senate, Document No.
60, 59th Congress, 1st Session, No. 3849,
vol. 2.
70 OHIO HISTORY |
|
Finally on March 30, 1865, the "Perry's Victory" was placed on display and Ohioans had a chance to judge the painting's merits for themselves. Already praised by members of the Select Committee, the painting was also praised by art critics from eastern cities who predicted that "Perry's Victory" would add to the artist's reputation. One observer remarked that the painting would make an admirable pendent to Emanuel Leutze's immensely popular "Washington Crossing the Delaware," while a newspaper in Perry's home state observed that "with a little selfishness that is natural, we would rather keep the picture in Rhode Island than let it go to either Ohio or Washington." 16 While there appeared to be general agreement that the work was of high quality and well worth the expense, criticism of both the painting's quality and its price quickly arose. Perhaps never in the state's history has a work of art generated such heated controversy. Among the comments printed in the Ohio State Journal soon after the painting was displayed in Columbus were the following: 16. Ohio State Journal, March 30 and 31, April 12, 1865; New York Times, October 14, 1864; New York Evening Post, August 30, 1864; Providence Journal, September 5, 1864. A typed summation of press opinion regarding "Perry's Victory" is found in Ohio Historical Society Archives, P.A., 236. |
William Henry Powell 71 |
|
We join ... in remarking that Mr. Powell, historical painter, etc., has had another streak of bad fortune.-Years ago, Congress let him paint a huge picture for the Rotunda of the Capitol, purporting to represent DeSoto's discovery of the Mississippi, which still remains an eyesore to all visitors who have a true appreciation of historical art. As if this was not enough, Congress has just passed a resolution to pay Mr. Powell $25,000 for another historical picture. Poor Mr. Powell! It was bad enough to have one utterly worthless picture in the national capitol, without adding another glaring evidence of his artistic incapacity. Mr. Powell, we are glad to see, had a few true friends in the Senate who endeavored to spare his reputation this additional burden... Mr. [Senator Charles] Sumner's opposition was overruled.... A very excellent proviso, also offered by Mr. Sumner, that the painting should not represent a victory over our fellow citizens was not adopted, it being understood, we suppose that Mr. Powell will elaborate into a large painting the sketch of "Perry's Victory" which was shown in Washington as evidence of his artistic ability. 17 Another Washington critic, anonymously calling himself "a careful observer," wrote: I ... was a great deal disturbed by the passage of the resolution to pay Mr. Powell $25,000, for a painting of some naval subject. We have for many years been laughed at, by cultivated minds, for purchasing of this same artist the 17. Ohio State Journal, April 12, 1865. |
72 OHIO HISTORY
so-called "Discovery of the
Mississippi by DeSoto." It is beneath criticism.
Its total want of a knowledge of the
subject, its wretched coloring and bad
drawing, illustrate historically the crude condition of
Congress, and makes a
beautiful painting to cut up; but I will
not waste time in useless comments.
Lately, however, Mr. Powell who admits
that DeSoto was bad business, has
hung up in the Rotunda of the Capitol a
painting he calls "Perry's Victory,"
and claims on this showing to have
improved. I am sorry to say that the claim
is not tenable. The artist has but one
point to make, and that was a
representation of Perry, as he passed in
an open boat from his disabled vessel
to a fresh one. He has failed here as he
failed with DeSoto . . the painting
is a mean, distasteful, and abominable
from its utter poverty.... The artist
unable to understand the simplicity of
true greatness, drops the work to take
up the theatrical. His Perry is the
Perry of the stage.... Nor has the Artist
improved in other respects. The water is
not water. If that is a correct
representation of the condition of Lake
Erie, Perry could have walked from
one vessel to another.
.... This painting belongs to Ohio. Poor
Ohio pays a thousand dollars for
it, Congress sees that and goes
twenty-four thousand better. Senator Sherman
[John Sherman of Ohio], to use a flash
phrase, 'didn't see it,' and used his
efforts to defeat the barbarous
resolution. 18
Not all the criticism focused on the
quality of the art. At least one
Ohio politician loudly voiced his
consternation that a figure of a black
man, depicted at Perry's side, would
enjoy a prominent place in the
statehouse. His remarks were overheard
and recorded by a reporter for
the conservative Ohio Statesman, which
then printed the politician's
crude comment. This incident lead to a
sharp rebuke by the Statesman's
chief competitor, the Journal, which
editorialized as follows:
$10,000 for a Nigger. A senator
yesterday furnished considerable merriment to
persons in the Rotunda, by passing a
remark he made touching the great
painting of Mr. Powell, representing
Commodore Perry's victory on Lake
Erie. In 1857, we believe, the
Legislature made an appropriation of $5,000 to pay
for this painting but in consideration
of the inflated prices at the time it was
painted, Mr. Powell feels compelled to
ask $15,000 for it. The Senator referred
to glanced at the picture, and described
a negro in the background, and
remarked, "Well ten thousand
dollars for a nigger." The crowd at once saw
the point, and enjoyed the joke
exceedingly.-Ohio Statesman.
The foregoing paragraph affords an
admirable illustration of the morals of
the Ohio Statesman. Its
negrophobia blinds it to good taste, common sense,
and historical truth. It exposes the
meanness of its spirit and the paucity of
its information. The historical fact is
that Hannibal, Perry's servant, was taken
into his master's boat at his own urgent
request. We do not hesitate to entertain
a very firm conviction that if the
Editor of the Statesman had been in the
Lake Erie fight, he would have been too
"conservative" to run the gauntlet
of the British fire. A "nigger in
the boat" would have furnished him an
18. Ibid.
William Henry Powell 73
excellent excuse. The Statesman's Senator-extemporized,
we presume-would
have been its editor's bosom friend in
that emergency.19
Much of the controversy about the
painting concerned its historical
accuracy, and despite Powell's careful
research in Rhode Island and the
Brooklyn Naval Yard many critics
disputed minor details in the compo-
sition. A sensitive artist, Powell heard
his critics and sought to have the
correctness of his paintings verified.
Therefore, he must have been
comforted to read a letter he received
from one survivor of the battle
who had viewed the painting while it was
displayed in Washington and
wrote:
I take pleasure in complying with your
request to add my testimony to the
correctness of your likeness of the late
Commodore 0. H. Perry, and portrayed
in your magnificent painting of that
battle. I have no hesitation Sir in
stating that in my opinion you have
given the most striking and life-like
representation of that hero that has
ever appeared on canvas and.... This
painting in all its details with one
exception gives a truthful and vivid
representation of the scene it
portrays.20
Undaunted by his critics, Powell began
work on his second version
of the famous naval engagement, to be
entitled "The Battle of Lake
Erie," and of greater
dimensions-twenty feet by thirty feet-than
"Perry's Victory." Although
the second version was to be considerably
larger than the first, Powell used the
same drawing as his earlier
painting and merely enlarged the
background scenery, a practice not
uncommon in Powell's day.21
In completing "The Battle of Lake
Erie," Powell encountered the
same financial problems and criticisms
he had experienced in painting
and exhibiting "Perry's
Victory." In November, 1871, six years after
having received his commission from
Congress, Powell wrote to
Senator Lot M. Morrill of Maine,
chairman of the Committee on the
Library of Congress, and expressed
concern that the legislator had
neglected Powell's earlier request for
payment. Informing Morrill that
the painting could not be completed for
an opening of the Congressional
session in December, Powell noted "your
disappointment cannot equal
mine, for all my material interests
would be benefitted could that
19. Ohio State Journal, April 1,
1865.
20. The writer did not indicate in this
communication what his "one exception"
was. Usher Parsons to Powell, October
20, 1863, Records, U.S. Capitol Architect.
Parsons had served with Perry as a
surgeon and was noted for giving talks to patriotic
and historical groups on the Battle of Lake Erie.
21. David Lynn, Architect of the
Capitol, to Miss Wenona Merlin, March 24, 1937,
Records, U.S. Capitol Architect.
74 OHIO
HISTORY
be accomplished... but it is not
possible." Claiming that he had
worked continuously for six to eight
hours a day, Powell stated that
"the work grew under my hands, and
I found that I carried out my
assurance to your committee, in which at
the time given I firmly
believed, I must do so by inferior work,
which neither be just to the
government which entrusted to my honor
the best evidence of my
artistic ability, nor to my own
reputation.... I have produced the
best work that I am able to do but at a
much greater cost of time
than I anticipated. That is my loss, and
a bitter loss it is." Stating
that the painting could not be ready
until the following March, Powell
announced that he would stop work
entirely on "The Battle of Lake
Erie" to accept portrait work,
"which will give me a means of
supporting my family." Powell
concluded his letter by writing: "I shall
not willingly deliver the work from my
hands with any of the details
lower in execution than the standard I
have adopted."22 The question
of payment was finally resolved, but it
was not until the spring of
1873 that Powell informed the architect
of the Capitol that "The Battle
of Lake Erie" was ready for framing
and exhibition.23
The second version of Perry's heroic
triumph, painted in the grand
romantic style popular in his time, was
perhaps Powell's best work-at
least the artist himself thought so.24
But once again critics found
imperfections. Henry C. Bispham, a noted
New York art critic, found
the "figure badly drawn and
painted, and in some respects not as
good as DeSoto ... they are too
woodeny." However, Bispham
conceded that the background was
"well painted, composed and
drawn."25 Once again the
art critics were less appreciative than the
general public and their elected
representatives, who found Powell's
historical paintings to their liking.
Powell's rendering of two nearly
identical paintings, while a fairly
common practice in his era, resulted in
great public confusion. Both
enormous paintings were permanently
displayed in public buildings
and for over a century were viewed by
millions of visitors. Also, both
22. Powell to Lot Morrill, November 25,
1871, National Archives, U.S. Library of
Congress, Manuscripts Div., Misc.
Manuscripts, No. 148.
23. Powell to Edward Clark, March 30,
1873, Records, U.S. Capitol Architect.
24. Art Journal(1879), 351.
25. Quoted in Townsend, Washington
Inside and Outside. 749-50. For an interesting
evaluation of Powell's naval scenes, see
Charles Lee Lewis, "Powell's Victory on Lake
Erie," The Capitol Dome (July,
1970), 2-6. Lewis, a naval historian, finds three faults
with the painting: first, Perry carried
over his shoulder his banner "Don't give up the
ship," not the Stars and Stripes,
when he transferred from the Lawrence to the Niagara;
second, Perry and his men appear to be
wearing uniforms of the Civil War period rather
than the War of 1812; and third, Perry's
small boat should have only five occupants
and his little brother Alexander should
not be among them.
William Henry Powell 75 |
|
paintings were frequently copied and reproduced. Confusion was compounded by misinformed guards in the Nation's Capitol and untrained guards in Columbus, who, lacking factual information, often fabricated their own historical narratives. A principal perpetrator of misinformation was Captain Howard F. Kennedy, who for over four decades served as the chief of the Nation's Capitol guides. Kennedy knew Powell personally at the time the painter was working on both "Perry's Victory" and "The Battle of Lake Erie" and the two were frequent companions at taverns in Washington and New York. Kennedy apparently never paid careful attention to factual details, and over time his memory became clouded. A typed transcript of Kennedy's reminiscences of Powell produced in 1911 provided the office of the Capitol Architect with its basic history of the two paintings. Unfortunately, Kennedy incorrectly identified Powell as a native of Oregon and mistakenly believed that "Perry's Victory" was removed from the Capitol in 1865 because the Capitol Architect was dissatisfied with its size and sold it to Ohio only after Powell agreed to paint a larger version.26 Kennedy's erroneous statements were repeated by dozens of Capitol guides to thousands of tourists and by the Office
26. Kennedy to Elliot Woods, Superintendent of U.S. Capitol Building, January 11, 1911, Records, Architect of the U.S. Capitol. |
76 OHIO
HISTORY
of the Architect to publishers and radio
broadcasters. Meanwhile,
groups of Ohio school children were told
by guards that the version
in Ohio, "Perry's Victory,"
had originally been intended for the United
States Capitol, but was rejected because
a black man was depicted in
the same boat with the commodore.27
During the final years of his life
Powell painted nothing to equal
the majestic historical works which hung
in the capitols in Washington
and Columbus. He continued his portrait
painting and maintained an
elegant and expensive social life in New
York, where his parties were
ranked among the most fashionable in
that city. His wife was a woman
of considerable social standing and
frequent visitors to their home
included the wife of Judge Theodore
Roosevelt-the mother of the
future president-,Mrs. John Charles
Fremont, and Mrs. Charles
O'Connor, the estranged wife of the
famous attorney who defended
Jefferson Davis in his trial for
treason. Powell delighted in the opera
and had a considerable reputation as a
music critic. His French and
Italian were flawless and he was often
mistaken as a French citizen
when traveling in Europe. In his final
years his fortune disappeared
and he was weakened by poor health;
however, he continued to work
in his studio until his death in 1879.28
Although the mid-nineteenth century
produced many talented artists
who polished their skills in European
art centers, the art of the period
lacked real greatness. Like their
contemporaries in European academies
with whom they studied, popular American
painters of this era
produced historical scenes featuring
melodramatic, cluttered canvases
of minute portraits. They tended to be
exceptionally sentimental in
portraying their historical subjects and
seemed to appeal to their
young nation's need for psychological
reassurance of American
greatness. Producing romantic works of
unreal beauty, most art-
ists of Powell's day, with the
remarkable exception of Winslow
Homer, tended to ignore the period's
relevant burning issues-the
slavery controversy, Civil War, and
industrial revolution. While the
giant historical paintings of Powell and
his contemporaries were not
highly esteemed by art historians and
critics, they were much appreciated
by a public anxious to view dramatic and
inspiring art in their public
buildings.29
27. David Lynn to Bruce Chapman, Mutual
Broadcasting System, "The Answer
Man Program," October 8, 1942;
Charles E. Fairman, Art Curator, U.S. Capitol,
to Henry Ishman, June 15, 1934;
Memorandum, Judge Earl Hoover of Cleveland,
August 22, 1966, Records, Architect of
the U.S. Capitol.
28. Art Journal(1879), 351.
29. Wendell D. Garrett, "A Century
of Aspiration" in W. Garrett and others, ed.,
The Arts in America: The Nineteenth
Century (New York, 1969), 21, 24-25.
William Henry Powell 77
While not among the great figures in the
history of American art,
Powell is nevertheless significant as an
early example of a highly
successful portrait artist who expanded
his basic skills and produced
more complex and elaborate historical
paintings. The first artist from
Ohio to gain a national reputation and
receive major commissions
from the United States Congress and the
Ohio General Assembly, he
is best remembered for his historical
paintings, particularly his two
massive and dramatic depictions of the
American naval triumph on
Lake Erie. His career is representative
of those nineteenth century
artists who, after gaining local success
as portrait painters, journeyed
to the east coast and Europe to sharpen
their skills for an American
public becoming more sophisticated in
its tastes and beginning to
demand higher standards from its
artists.
MICHAEL J. DEVINE
The Historical Paintings
of William Henry Powell
In 1865 the Ohio General Assembly
commissioned William Henry
Powell to paint a large historic picture
depicting the heroic naval victory
of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and his
men over the British in
the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. A
former resident of Cincinnati, Powell
had won fame in the eastern urban
centers of the United States as well
as European capitals, and his majestic
"Perry's Victory" hung in
Ohio's capitol for over one hundred
years as one of the state's most
valuable art treasures.' However, from
its inception the painting was
a controversial item. Questions arose
concerning what seemed to be an
excessive payment for the work, critics
attacked the quality of the
painting and its historical accuracy,
and public confusion developed
when the artist painted an almost
identical version of "Perry's Victory"
for the United States Capitol. This
study of William Henry Powell
and his work seeks to detail Powell's
remarkable career as an artist
of historical scenes, examine the
politics surrounding the commissioning
of Powell by political leaders conscious
of the public's growing taste
for historical art, and assess Powell's
works and the public reactions
they generated.
Powell was the product of an unusual,
brilliant flowering of portrait
and landscape artists in frontier
Cincinnati which included such diverse
talents as Thomas Worthington
Whittridge, James H. Beard, Lilly
Martin Spencer, Abraham G. D. Tuthill,
and John P. Frankenstein.
Born in New York on February 14, 1823,
Powell moved to Cincinnati
with his family at the age of seven, and
he soon demonstrated a
Michael J. Devine is Executive Director
of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of
Colleges and Universities.
1. "Perry's Victory" was
removed from the Capitol while the rotunda was being
painted in 1967 and placed in storage by
the Department of Public Works. Recently,
however, the Ohio Historical Society has
had the painting restored with funds provided
by the Ohio American Revolution
Bicentennial Advisory Commission and it is once
again on display in the Capitol. Two
companion paintings, "The Wright Brothers"
painted by Dwight Mutchler (1959) and
"Edison" by Howard Chandler Christy (1950),
have been locked in storage since 1967
in the care of the Ohio Historical Society.
Christy's "Greenville Treaty"
(1945) is still on public display in the statehouse. See
report of Charles Pratt to Ohio
Historical Society Board of Trustees, July 8, 1967,
Ohio Historical Society Records.