Telegraph Cable Fleet at Sea, 1865
1865–66
Medium
Watercolor with touches of gouache (bodycolor)
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 3/4 x 9 3/16 in. (14.6 x 23.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cyrus W. Field, 1892
Accession Number
92.10.88
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1865–66, British artist Robert Charles Dudley captured pivotal moment in technological history with *Telegraph Cable Fleet at Sea, 1865*. This delicate watercolor depicts the fleet of ships, led by the massive steamship *Great Eastern*, they prepared to lay the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. Commissioned as the expedition's official artist, Dudley aboard during these daring voyages, sketching the armada amid stormy seas—a testament to human ambition to shrink the world through instant communication. Rendered on a modest 5 3/4 x 9 3/16-inch sheet, ...
About the Artist
Robert Charles Dudley · 1813–1913
British, 1826–1909