Shipwreck near a Rocky Coast

Thomas Birch, 1833

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Find the crowded little boat between the wreck and the rocks, then the wreckage floating in the foreground.

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Thomas Birch, a marine painter based in Philadelphia, helped establish sea painting in early 19th-century America. This storm is an imagined scene. The ship’s sails are torn and its masts lean, while a small group of sailors tries to escape in a little boat. Birch leaves the story unresolved, so we never learn whether they reach safety.

Oil on canvas · 51.4 × 76.8 cm · Art Institute of Chicago

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Art Institute of Chicago: Shipwreck near a Rocky Coast

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Details and source

Museum title: Shipwreck near a Rocky Coast
Artist: Thomas Birch American, born England, 1779–1851
Date: 1833
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 51.4 × 76.8 cm (20 1/4 × 30 1/4 in.)
Credit line: Gift of the family of Richard H. Daniel
Image license: CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record: Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1779–1851

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.