Lot Essay
On June 1, 1813, thirty-two year old James Lawrence, Commander of the American Frigate Chesapeake engaged the British Frigate Shannon thirty miles off Boston Harbor. The Chesapeake was captured, but the young commanders words as he lay mortally wounded on the deck "Don't Give Up the Ship" became the battle cry for the American Navy.
One of the most widely recognized nineteenth-century New England maritime carvers, John Haley Bellamy (1836-1914) of Kettery Point, Maine, is renowned for this ____ carved eagles which adorned public buildings and ships. Depicted as grasping onto banners or American flags, Bellamy carved his eagles with outstretched wings and cocked head with a distinctive articulated open beak. The son of a prominent Maine family, Bellamy received his formal training in Boston and New York and then apprenticed to a Boston woodcarver, later receiving commissions from clients at the Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire navy yards. See Safford, 'John Haley Bellamy,' Folk Art in America: Painting and Sculpture (New York, 1979), pp. 128-134).
Bellamy adorned his banners with several phrases which were interchangeably used with the same carved eagle figure. Besides 'Don't Give Up The Ship!' he painted the phrase, 'While we live let us live!' as well as its latin translation, 'Dum Vivimus Vivamus.' Smith, John Haley Bellamy, Carver of Eagles (Portsmouth, 1982).
An identical Bellamy Eagle with banner and phrase is illustrated in Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Colletion I (1964), p. 287, no. 709.
One of the most widely recognized nineteenth-century New England maritime carvers, John Haley Bellamy (1836-1914) of Kettery Point, Maine, is renowned for this ____ carved eagles which adorned public buildings and ships. Depicted as grasping onto banners or American flags, Bellamy carved his eagles with outstretched wings and cocked head with a distinctive articulated open beak. The son of a prominent Maine family, Bellamy received his formal training in Boston and New York and then apprenticed to a Boston woodcarver, later receiving commissions from clients at the Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire navy yards. See Safford, 'John Haley Bellamy,' Folk Art in America: Painting and Sculpture (New York, 1979), pp. 128-134).
Bellamy adorned his banners with several phrases which were interchangeably used with the same carved eagle figure. Besides 'Don't Give Up The Ship!' he painted the phrase, 'While we live let us live!' as well as its latin translation, 'Dum Vivimus Vivamus.' Smith, John Haley Bellamy, Carver of Eagles (Portsmouth, 1982).
An identical Bellamy Eagle with banner and phrase is illustrated in Sack, American Antiques from Israel Sack Colletion I (1964), p. 287, no. 709.