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Description: oil on canvas

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Dimensions: measurements 24 3/4 by 32 1/4 in. alternate measurements (62.9 by 81.9 cm)

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Exhibited: Washington, D.C., The White House, 1961-1963
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Maritime Museum, n.d.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Independence Seaport Museum, Life of a Sailor: A Collector's Vision, September 1999-December 2000
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Summers 2001-2003

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Notes: PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF J. WELLES HENDERSON
Executed circa 1813, this painting depicts the famous naval battle fought during the War of 1812 in which the USS United States pounded the HMS Macedonian into submission off the African coast on October 25, 1812. The United States' commander, Stephen Decatur, then brought the British frigate back to New London, Connecticut as a war prize. Shortly after taking office in 1961, John F. Kennedy asked his wife Jacqueline to find a painting of a naval battle to hang over the fireplace in his private office. Hannah Henderson, wife of Philadelphia collector and lawyer J. Welles Henderson, read an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which described the Kennedys' plans for redecorating the White House, including their search for a naval portrait. The article prompted Mr. Henderson to send a telegram to the President offering two of his works that were then on loan to the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, where Henderson was Chairman. The President selected this painting, which hung in the White House during his administration.