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Peace (The White Squadron in Boston Harbor)

Painting of primarily white sailships and rowboats on the Boston Harbor. The centermost ship is the largest with six billowing sails and a series of smaller white, blue, and red flags. The blue of the water is similar to the coloring of the sky but with slightly more saturation and white highlights. The painting is in an impressionistic style./tiles/collection/2/22580.xml
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Detail of the centermost white sail ship with partially visible masts. People, dressed in white and blue, line the railings of the two-decker ship. A blue and red-and-white-striped shield is present at the ship’s bow. On either side of the ship are wooden extensions with four boat lines that secure two out of the eight rowboats. Two of the rowboats have U.S. flags. To the left side of the ship are two row boats with a ladder. Two cannons are visible at the ship’s side./tiles/collection/2/22576.xml
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Detail of the centermost ship’s masts with six large white sails, two masts, and smaller white, red, and blue flags./tiles/collection/2/22577.xml
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Detail of a medium-sized white ship with six sails and two masts located to the center ship’s left background. Surrounding the ship are row boats, a sailboat with four unfurled sails, and a steamboat. The foreground has a seagull flying close to the water’s surface while the midground shows a rowboat with six white-unformed rowers and a blue uniformed person at its head holding a U.S. flag./tiles/collection/2/22578.xml
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Detail of a medium-sized white ship with six sails and two masts located to the center ship’s right background. Surrounding the ship are ships of a similar size, rowboats, and single and multi-sail sailboats./tiles/collection/2/22579.xml
Download this image
Painting of primarily white sailships and rowboats on the Boston Harbor. The centermost ship is the largest with six billowing sails and a series of smaller white, blue, and red flags. The blue of the water is similar to the coloring of the sky but with slightly more saturation and white highlights. The painting is in an impressionistic style.
Detail of the centermost white sail ship with partially visible masts. People, dressed in white and blue, line the railings of the two-decker ship. A blue and red-and-white-striped shield is present at the ship’s bow. On either side of the ship are wooden extensions with four boat lines that secure two out of the eight rowboats. Two of the rowboats have U.S. flags. To the left side of the ship are two row boats with a ladder. Two cannons are visible at the ship’s side.
Detail of the centermost ship’s masts with six large white sails, two masts, and smaller white, red, and blue flags.
Detail of a medium-sized white ship with six sails and two masts located to the center ship’s left background. Surrounding the ship are row boats, a sailboat with four unfurled sails, and a steamboat. The foreground has a seagull flying close to the water’s surface while the midground shows a rowboat with six white-unformed rowers and a blue uniformed person at its head holding a U.S. flag.
Detail of a medium-sized white ship with six sails and two masts located to the center ship’s right background. Surrounding the ship are ships of a similar size, rowboats, and single and multi-sail sailboats.
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Date

1893

Artist

Walter Lofthouse Dean

Dimensions

75 x 108 in. (190.5 x 274.3 cm) Framed: 99 x 132 in. (251.5 x 335.3 cm)

Accession Number

2004.041.000

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

This impressionist-inspired, atmospheric scene commemorates the 1889 inaugural tour of the U.S. Navy’s White Squadron, part of its post–Civil War transition to steel shipbuilding. In Peace (The White Squadron), leading American marine painter Walter Lofthouse Dean depicts the White Squadron leaving the Boston Harbor as it sets out on its tour to Europe. The reflective, white hulls of the squadron guide viewers across the expansive canvas, echoing the motion of the rippling water. Tall masts break up the predominantly horizontal elements in the painting and lead the viewers’ eyes up from the large body of water to the cloud-filled sky. Barely visible along the horizon line is the city of Boston; Dean included the gold-domed Massachusetts State House and Bunker Hill Monument in the background. Peace was first displayed in the Capitol in 1900 in the hearing room of the House Committee on Naval Affairs.

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