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Niagara at the Battle of Lake Erieoil on canvas18 3/8 x 23 3/8 in. (46.7 x 59.4 cm.)PROVENANCEAcquired directly from the artistThomas Birch & Sons Auctioneers, PhiladelphiaDr. and Mrs. William Pepper, Philadelphia (Mrs. William Pepper, nee Frances Sargeant Perry, the granddaughter of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry)Mr. and Mrs. Francis A. Lewis, PhiladelphiaEXHIBITEDNew York, Apollo Association, October Exhibition, 1838, no. 139, as Battle on Lake ErieNew York, Apollo Association, January Exhibition, 1839, no. 91, as Battle on Lake EriePhiladelphia, United States International Centennial Exhibition, 1876, no. 979Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Perry Victory Centennial Exhibition, July-Sept. 1913, no. 5 (illus. of engraving)Philadelphia, Philadelphia Maritime Museum, Thomas Birch 1779-1851: Paintings and Drawings, March-May, 1966, no. 10, illus.Muskegon, Michigan, Muskegon Museum of Art, Great Lakes Marine Painting of the Nineteenth Century, June-Aug. 1983, pp. 54-55; p. 20, pl. 4, illus. as Perry Leaving the LawrenceLITERATUREW. H. Gerdts, "Thomas Birch: America's First Marine Artist", The Magazine Antiques, April 1966, p. 532, illus.J. G. Sweeney, "Great Lakes Marine Painting of the 19th Century: A Michigan Perspective", Michigan History Magazine, May-June, 1983, p. 29, illus.J. G. Sweeney, "Seascape: Marine Landscape Painting", Three Hundred Years of American Art, Secaucus, 1987, p. 346; p. 344, illus.RELATED LITERATUREB. Lossing, Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, New York, 1868, pp. 524-527H. N. Smith, American Naval Broadsides, New York, 1974, pp. 153-4, no. 126, pl. 85Commodore Olver Hazard Perry's decisive rout of the British in the Battle of Lake Erie proved to be the turning point in the War of 1812. Despite the disabling of his flagship, the Lawrence, Commodore Perry, in a rowboat under enemy fire, boldly transferred her pennant (bearing his friend John Lawrence's dying injunction "Don't give up the ship") to the uninjured Niagara. Lossing describes the historic moment that is the subject of the present painting:Her [the Lawrence's] rigging was nearly all shot away; her sails were torn into shreds; her spars were battered into splinters; her guns were dismounted.... with the calmness of perfect assurance, Perry laid aside his blue nankeen sailor's jacket which he had worn all day, and put on the uniform of his rank, as if conscious that he should secure a victory and have occaision to receive as guests the conquered commander and officers of the British squadron... With [his pennant], his little brother, and four [sic] stout seamen for the oars... he started upon his perilous journey... He stood upright in the boat, the pennant and the banner half folded around him, a mark for the anxious eyes of his own men and the guns of the enemy... Cannon-balls, grape, canister, and musket-shot were hurled in showers toward the little boat during the fifteen minutes that it was making its way from the Lawrence ot the Niagara... Perry stood erect, unmindful of danger...Shortly thereafter, on board the Niagara, Perry led the American fleet to victory, and dispatched this succinct message to the commander of the American land forces: "We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop. Yours with great respect and esteem..."Enthusiasm for Perry's performance ran high with the American public, and the commercial possiblities of the battle were not lost on the artists and engravers of the day. Five months prior to the battle Birch had contracted with Joseph Delaplaine, the noted Philadelphia publisher, to do a "series of Engravings of the American Naval Actions from commencement of the Revolution to the present time...", to be sold by subscription.That book was never published, perhaps because the War of 1812 provided ample contemporary material for the partners to focus their efforts on. Although their relationship appears to have dissolved by 1816, Birch is known to have depicted at least twelve of the major naval engagements of the war. A series of watercolours, now in the collection of the New York Historical Society, as well as several oil paintings in public and private collections, many of which were eventually published as engravings, attest to both the public and Birch's own continued interest in the subject.The battle on Lake Erie was by far the most prominent and acclaimed of all the naval actions of the war. Soon thereafter, Birch and Delaplaine collaborated with the engraver Alexander Lawson on at least two representations of the historic events of September 10, 1813, one of which is taken directly from the present painting. That engraving, titled Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, is almost identical in size and subject to Commodore Perry Leaving the Lawrence, with the exception of the inclusion of an extra figure on board the Niagara. To portray this scene with the greatest possible accuracy, Birch interviewed and drew life portraits of some of the key veterans. Birch was equally exacting in his treatment of the ships, as evidenced by a sketch of the bow of the Niagara in the John Sartain Collection of Birch drawings at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.The second print was taken from Brich's submission to the 1814 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual, also titled Perry's Victory on Lake Erie. This more panoramic view of the battle (now in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) represented "the moment in which Commodore Perry, on board the Niagara, is engaging the ship Queen Charlotte".Perry's brief and thrilling journey captured the imagination of other artists, and the catalogue for the Pennsylvania Academy's Annual of 1814 includes the following tantalizing unattributed entry:197 Perry's Victory on Lake Erie. Representing the position of the American and British fleets at the interesting moment, when Commodore Perry finding the Lawrence rendered unmanagable from her having received the whole fire of the enemy's fleet, is seen passing in a boat rowed by eight men, to go on board the Niagara.Research done in connection with the present painting has uncovered a contemporary newspaper advertisement for an engraving of the subject, documenting the attribution of this drawing to Thomas Sully and ** Kearney. Despite the catalogue description, the Sully picture is a large scale panorama of the battle, with the figure of Perry in his boat almost indistinguishable in the general turmoil of the battle.Of the many contemporary engavings of the day's events (at lest 12 are listed in H. Newbold Smith's Naval Broadsides) the inspiration to focus directly on this most intimate and human moment of the drama - - when Perry, as the calm center of the storm around him, salutes the Niagara and prepares to board - - appears to have been entirely Birch's own. As J. Gray Sweeney points out, the painting "symbolizes" a kind of elegant and precise ordering of the chaotic battle space by the artist's will', and is influenced in its composition more by Benjamin West's Battle of La Hague and Dutch 17th century maritime views than by contemporary naval prints.Although painted circa 1814, Commodore Perry Leaving the Lawrence was apparently not publicly exhibited until the 25th Anniversay of the event, when Birch included it in the 1838 October Exhibition at the Apollo Association as "Battle on Lake Erie. For sale. 10th September 1813. The time chosen is when Commodore Perry passed in his boat from the Lawrence to the Niagara." It was again listed as "for sale, $50.00" in the January 1839 Apollo exhibition.The next definitive reference to the painting is its inclusion in the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, lent by Thomas Birch & Sons, Auctioneers, the son and grandsons of the artists. It was sold from that exhibition to Mrs. William Pepper, Sr., of Philadelphia, "a granddaughter of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who before her marriage was Miss Frances Sergeant Perry." Subsequently, it descended in the Perry family until it was acquired by the present owner.We are grateful to Tony Lewis, who is undertaking his doctoral dissertation on Thomas Birch at Northwestern University, for his assistance in documenting the history of this painting.