The Atlantic Telegraph Cable Fleet Assembled at Berehaven (Southwest C

A large paddle-wheel steamship with many masts and flags dominates the center of a hazy anchorage, flanked by smaller sailing vessels and a steamer. Smoke drifts above the water, and a red-hulled boat with figures sits in the foreground. Soft washes and gouache give the scene a misty, luminous quality.

Look closer: A small boat with figures near the center-left of the water, beside the main steamer's hull.

Artist

Robert Charles Dudley

Date

1866

Medium

Watercolor over graphite with touches of gouache (bodycolor)

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3803 × 2321 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Cyrus W. Field, 1892