July 14th, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2011
Engraving “Battle of New Orleans and Defeat of the British under the Command of Sir Edward Packenham, by Genl. Andrew Jackson 8th Jany. 1815” Drawn by S. Seymour and Engraved by J.W. Steel, Published by William H. Morgan of Philadelphia, 18”x14”. Framed. Samuel Seymour was known primarily as an engraver of portraits working in Philadelphia between 1797 and 1822. Seymour is one of the more enigmatic figures on the historical American art scene. An engraver and artist, he may have been English, but there is no proof of this. His earliest known work appeared in 1796, and apparently from that time on he resided in or near Philadelphia. Not much is known of his work for the next 20 years. He exhibited landscape paintings at various showings sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts in Philadelphia, and engraved at least three pictures by William Birch (1801, 1803, 1804). In early 1819, Seymour accompanied the Major Stephen H. Long Expedition as landscape painter. The following year, the exploration went to the Platte River, the Front Wall of the Rockies, and down the Arkansas/Canadian Rivers. On the return trip, the party stopped for ten days in September at Fort Smith, a log frontier outpost located at the junction of the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers on the western border of the Arkansas Territory. While there, Seymour made at least two, possibly three, drawings of the fort and its environs. Then, Seymour, in company with Peale and Say, returned to Philadelphia, via New Orleans, arriving there in late December, 1820. In 1823, he accompanied Major Stephen A. Long on an expedition into the Yellowstone area and was never heard from again. James W. Steel was born in Philadelphia in 1799 and died there in 1879. Originally a student of Benjamin Tanner and George Murray, he became an accomplished line engraver and by 1820 was working over his own name. He produced a number of portraits, landscapes and was particularly known for his work in bank notes. The print was published by William H. Morgan who also published (ca.1820) Thomas Sully's famous portrait of Jackson engraved by J. B. Longacre.
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.