George Ropes Jr. (1788-1819)

all in the original giltwood frames with period glass; suspended from ring hangers.  The first painting, 'Sighting' is signed, G. Ropes, Salem, 1813, l.r.

Tear in one canvas; less noticable "PLEASE NOTE THAT NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY IN THE SALE CATALOGUE, LOT 307 IS NOT EXEMPT FROM NEW YORK SALES TAX IF IT IS PICKED UP OR DELIVERED IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK."
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The words to an 1850s song The Old Constitution read, "Ride on in they majesty, Neptune owns the power. (But) thy voice of thunder shook his throne, and made bold tyrants cower."  The ship Constitution is an American icon to which we have paid continuous homage. Her 1812 naval victory, the capture of the English Guerriere, can be said to have bolstered our chances of surviving as a nation. As a symbol of American pluck, although she was a wooden ship, a British sailor was heard during the engagement, to shout, "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron." It was the first time that an English frigate had struck its flag to an American.

Contemporary artists reproduced her image, Michel Felice Cornê (1752-1845) among them.  Another, Thomas Birch (1779-1851) left some 30 painting of the engagement. Many painters since then attempted to capture her magic. Blue transfer pottery carried the battle scene. Numberless engravings did the same. Currier & Ives found for her a welcome market. Even English and French artists contributed.  When it was reported that she was scheduled to be destroyed she was saved by the scornful Oliver Wendell Holmes' 1885 poem "Old Ironsides, Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!"

In some measure we are indebted to Cornê and to one of his students, for the memory that endures. It was Cornẻ who took one of the nine children of the ship master George Ropes, the one who could neither hear nor speak, the one who was barely 13 years old, the boy George Ropes, and made of him an artist.

Most Ropes paintings, which manifest a clear debt to Cornê are concerned with maritime subjects, the earliest by the boy then 17, an oil on canvas of the ship Friendship of Salem, 1805. His characteristic interest in America and the sea are exemplified by the New-York Historical Society's Capture of H.M.S. Macedonian by the U.S. Frigate United States, and the Engagement of the U. S. Frigate Constitution and H. M.S. Jarvis (three views) and the Peabody Essex Museum's America in Chase of His B. M. Packet Princess Elizabeth (1815), Naval Battle between Quebec Frigate and the French Surveillance (1815) and by one of his last, the Ship Two Brothers, Salem (1818). There is no dated painting thereafter.

In the years after his father died in 1806, and while weathering the life-long struggle with his disabilities, he was obliged to support the large family. It is possible that in those later years he would have had to devote more of his time to the more reliable income he was known to derive from painting carriages and signs.  Ropes died, a consumptive, in 1819. He was 31.

We are fortunate then that he did find the time, the energy and the talent enough to produce this splendid four painting set, a contemporary panorama of the historic sea battle between Constitution and Guerriere. 

A.J. Peluso, Jr., November, 2007

The Woburn Public Library, opened in 1879 for a community of 13,000, consists of approximately 18,000 gross square feet.  The National Historic Landmark is the first library designed by eminent 19^th century architect Henry Hobson Richardson and is a revered piece of local history.  However, since the early twentieth century, the services of the Library have been constrained by its small size and its historic significance.  Woburn's population is now over 35,000 and the Trustees believe that for the Library to fully serve the community, the facility must expand.

Therefore, in addition to applying for  grants, securing municipal funding, and fundraising efforts, the trustees made the decision to deaccession the George Ropes paintings (which have no local connection) to help defray the costs of construction.