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AN
ARTIST'S VIEWPOINT
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The
Market Master's House, 1777
("Open for Business")
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May 12, 2010
The design & composition begin.
The Market Master's House is situated on the edge of an industrial
area in historic Bladensburg, Maryland adjacent to Annapolis Road
and Kenilworth Avenue. The building, associated with the earliest
period of the town's development, serves as an important surviving
example of eighteenth-century vernacular architecture (King 1989:3).
Constructed
about 1765 by Christopher Lowndes, the small, one and a half story
gable-roof structure lay adjacent to the town's Market Square on
a long, narrow lot that fronts present day 38th Street.
Client's initial description:
The building was built around 1760 by Christopher Lowndes. We believe
he used it as a store and/or dwelling at that time. By around 1775
it is a post office and store. Someone may have also lived on the
premises. It is no longer used as a post office in 1808, but continues
to serve as a store until the 1830s/1840s.
Setting:
It is August 1777. The building faces the north. The view for
the painting should be to the southwest. The scene includes an
older man and the town crier sitting on a bench waiting for the
mail which has just been delivered by the carriage driver. Christopher
Lowndes is in the doorway of the store in conversation with a
woman (mother or nanny) who has just purchased goods from the
store. Two children are in the foreground. Black-eyed susans,
poppies, and Scottish thistle grow to the right of Christopher
Lowndes. On the east side of the building, Christopher Lowndes
has a coil of large rope piled outside of the store.
Characters:
Old Man: 70 year old working class man holding tobacco packed
pipe (not lit and not actively smoking) with legs crossed sitting
on bench against the store. Broken clay pipes are under foot as
are a few broken bits of pottery (scratch blue and tin glaze vessels)
and a tipped over wine bottle discarded and broken around this
area. Ozzie dog will be sitting on the left side of the old man,
looking up at one of the horses...the horse will also be looking
at Ozzie.
Town Crier: The TC will be dressed in traditional garb with a
bell in his hand sitting on the bench next to the old man. Formerly
in conversation with the old man, the TC now turns his attention
to the carriage driver carrying mail.
Horses: There should be four horses pulling the carriage. Horse
colors can be of colors that compliment the piece.
Carriage Driver: He just jumped down from his carriage and is
carrying a leather satchel filled with letters and a basket of
rolled newspaper. He is walking towards Christopher Lowndes who
is the Bladensburg postmaster.
Christopher Lowndes: He is 64 years old and is distracted by the
copious amounts of hemp cord that he needs to supply the government
for the war effort. He is down at the store to receive news about
rope orders. He gets an letter from the Council of Maryland each
month. In the meantime, he also operates a small store from this
location and has just finished providing goods to a woman and
her children. Christopher is in conversation with the woman, but
is distracted with the arrival of the mail.
Woman: A woman just purchased goods from Christopher Lowndes,
perhaps some cloth. I would like to make her a servant who is
taking care of a few children. The children can be distracted
by a cat that may be perched up high on the coil of rope. The
children include a 5 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. The boy
can be crouched down playing with a stick or looking at a bug
on a black-eyed Susan, for example. The girl maybe has a handful
of black-eyed susans she just picked from the side of the store.
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Part of the copied (1897) 1787 plat for Bladensburg's original
lots. Market Master's house (Christopher Lowndes) is highlighted
in pink; the Magruder House is in light blue. The Anacostia River
and public landing/port are in darker blue.
Schematic diagram of the scene from client
"Front" view of the Market Master's House structure
as it is today (private residence). The 18th century living surface
was 2 feet lower at the time this painting takes place. The window
on the left was a door at the time of this scene. Courtesy MD
State Highway Administration.
3/4 view same structure; same credits. The client is able to get
a few exterior dimensions, but not all that are needed.
I find the Library of Congress documents for this structure and
start to extrapolate from the known dimensions the team was able
to get (my pink lines). I also located a floor plan in the documentation
of the structure.
Top two images without the pink notes: courtesy Historic American
Buildings Survey (Library of Congress), US National Register of
Historic Places
Setting up the rough perspective
Site plan with 60 degree cone of vision for the suggested view.
The gray square in front of the floor plan is what we determine
to be the old market square present in 1777. Between the two is
what amounts to an alley access to the Market Master's House.
Since there is little evidence what specific activities occurred
on the square, we pull in closer to the edge of the square and
alley.
Aboe: the historic Magruder house is just to our lower right in
this site plan. Below: you can see a yellow tack for both in the
Google Earth image.
The structure today is surrounded by highways & highway ramps
changing the view from 1770. The river cannot be seen today. Google
Earth helps me plot how very close (less than a quarter mile)
the Anacostia River is to the historic structure-we know it will
show and it needs to be addressed in this painting.
The 1787 plat of Bladensburg over the current USGS Google Earth
view. The bridge and road running west to Washington DC (see Battle
of Bladensburg) can be seen in the upper right corner.
Rollover the image above: The first rough composition is digitally
put together fairly quickly using the existing house pictures,
Three SHA team members and yes-a Santa Claus act as scaled place
holders until I could find a good example of a man
carrying a heavy (mail) sack. Often, team member research is not
at the same point, so place holders
are used until further information is available. The rolled over
rough shows a developing market square concept in the foreground,
a store sign and eave brackets.
.jpg)
Above: a descendant's portrait of Christopher Lowndes. Courtesy
MD State Highway Administration. Since we have no clear visual
or written description of the man, I use his descendants facial
characteristics. Lowndes was one of the nation's first postmasters.
A surviving intricately embroidered 1775 waistcoat belonging to
Christopher Lowndes (above, courtesy MD SHA) is meticulously reproduced
in the final painting detail. The garment's details display his
wealth.
His early natural hair is eventually replaced with a period appropriate
wig which also is a display of wealth and his rough/rugged look
is changed to a softer personality late in the paint stage.
The team members on the historical projects are like detectives,
trying to determine what a place was really like back in time.
In this case, there is some doubt that the existing structure's
chimney is original, so we go back in time to try and determine
what would have been the original fireplace footprint. Above,
overlaying the current fireplace foot print with what was believed
to be the original footprint.
1891 Army Corp of Engineering map of the Anacostia River. This
river changed course, flooded and silted up so many times over
two centuries we wanted to go back in time and try to find where
the actual river banks were in 1770. This is where many different
map layers going back to the late 1700's placed in Google Earth
was helpful. They would be reexamined for the Battle of Bladensburg
scene. Above Courtesy Library of Congress.
A translucent 1903 map over the USGS 2010 Google area of Bladensburg
suggests where the river had been (see the winding bluish gray
path going to the upper left corner).
Going back in time, a 1861 Martenet map is transparently laid
over the 2010 USGS in Google Earth. Below, the 1787 Martenet map
over the 2010 USGS in Google Earth
1787 Bladensburg over 2010 maps; there is a substantial river
course change again
3-D transparent 1787 plat map over 2010 USGS looking for the Port
of Bladensburg and the river's boundaries
Rollover the image above: a chimney is added, the woman with two
small children becomes a nanny, the eave brackets come out and
support posts go in, the market square will not be addressed due
to lack of specific factual material and characters begin to get
developed & moved around. Midway through the rough composition
process, the SHA team believes they have uncovered evidence during
their excavation/dig of a drip edge that indicated an overhang
structure on the front of the building.
The store sign and side windows get taken out, a porch and dormer
window get added as do sailing ships once we have a good understanding
where the Anacostia river boundaries probably were at this time.
The stage coach gets changed and a shed to the left of the store
is roughed in for scale.
View in Google Earth mapping the closest river path from early
maps. The "curtain" depicts grade, 50' (green line),
100' (pink line) and 200' (top/white line) to give me scale for
the ships from our view and location.
The race is on to research the types of ships that could sail
this far up the Anacostia River at this point in time. Some of
the Scottish cargo ships for this period during a Google search.
Team member Susan Langley writes:
"The types of ships that came to Bladensburg. During
the peak period of 18th century shipping, the largest vessels
would have been brigantines. There's an issue with nomenclature
which I ought to address as I expect you'll run into it. The names
used to describe ships aren't always that descriptive since what
they describe is the manner in which they are rigged (the size,
number and configuration of the sails and ropes), it doesn't always
relate to size of the ship or the amount it can carry. Tonnage,
when given, is a good guide and there are rough rules of thumb.
Another problem is that definitions change. What defines a brigantine
in the 18th century changes by the 19th. Shipyard records and
designs only start to be kept for military vessels in the 18th
century so the area of merchant vessels is somewhat nebulous."
~and~
" References to specific vessels include
the snow Elijah, which was a slave ship sponsored by C. Lowndes
and Benjamin Tasker…however, slave vessels rarely if ever
came to Bladensburg, they went to Benedict where George Maxwell
was a major dealer or to the slave market in Annapolis…this
isn't to say the ship didn't come to Bladensburg at some point,
but I think it's unlikely since snow's are usually quite a bit
larger than the brigantines (>400 tons) so I don't think it
could make it up river.
**It
appears that at its peak, snows and possibly even ships could
indeed make it to Bladensburg. It's unclear if they are using
the term "ship" in its official manner which indicates
usually 3 masts and considerable size and weight. I question this
since the vessel Lowndes built and called The Hawk (1756) was
only 130 tons…well within the range of a brigantine. The
vessels Trafford and Windsor are each 200 tons and probably are
ships and Middleton (no tonnage given) is probably similar since
he received letters of marquee for all these in 1757. Also, it
doesn't mean that any of them were at Bladensburg; he had interests
all over and they could have been moored elsewhere. The "ship"
he advertises for sale in 1762 cannot be a true ship at only 56
feet (even though that's keel length) and if it carries 300 hogsheads
of tobacco it weight only just over 120 tons. The snow Apollo
(1764), is in the Eastern Branch, but not necessarily as high
as Bladensburg but interesting as these tend to be larger (225
tons). During the Revolution (1777) there are references to the
Governor's council ordering a sloop to obtain cordage from Lowndes
but also two ships (Plater and Dolphin) to obtain cordage for
the ship Xebeck and the galley Johnson respectively. If these
are really ships, they must be smaller ones. Again, many definitions
depend on the rigging configuration more than hull but I'm basing
these comments on reasonable rules of thumb.
There's a reference to vessels capable of carrying 60 tons (100
hogsheads) of tobacco were still loading at Bladensburg in 1835.
(In 1807 it could still ship out 1200-1500 hogsheads a year.
Brigantine Mary and Jane stopped in St. Mary's for carrying tea
in 1774 cargo had been consigned to merchants in Bladensburg and
Georgetown. No size/tonnage given.
With respect to the Scottish merchants, most were based on the
Clyde River around Glasgow but it was common practice to charter
English (esp. Whitehaven) or New England vessels as well as using
Scottish ones or Chesapeake-built ones in the tobacco trade…so
it's not critical to try to find an image of a Scottish vessel.
After 1800, the size of vessel is going to drop and you wouldn't
be seeing the brigantines, more sloops, ketches and row galleys
also called barges. Most of these would be for local transport
(not-transoceanic) and possibly for taking goods to vessels in
ports with deeper water. There's a reference to "lick-in
banks" meaning a small cut into a bank, usually natural often
with a spring, where boatmen could stop for a cool drink of water
and some shade…on larger sailing vessels this would be unlikely
and not necessary so I think it supports rowed, open watercraft..."
~
One fascinating part about working on the
historical projects is that I learn so much!
The
next task is to find the correct type of coach/carriage that will
be used for mail courier and passengers. Beekman or something
else? It had to be a long distance vehicle that was substantially
built.
Above: Samuel Powell coach. Image courtesy of Mt. Vernon
Another Beekman. Above courtesy nyhistory.org
Above-a Wells Fargo Mail coach-we find that this type of coach
was only used after the postal system and delivery were more organized.
Courtesy Wells Fargo
Another variation of a postal coach. Courtesy Postal Museum Smithsonian
Institution.
Yet another mailcoach. Courtesy of Wikipedia.com
Many coaches later, this is the one we stay with after a number
of coach changes on the rough composition. Courtesy history.org
I need to have some rough idea of coach construction and dimensions
so I can build the coach to correct scale & perspective in
the rough composition. We have to become minor experts on every
small detail in each of the historical paintings or they will
lose credibility. Courtesy British Postal Museum
Another coach diagram. This time from the Postal Museum, Smithsonian
Institution. This is good, because it labels the parts.
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Next is what horse breed and how many pulled the coach? Was there
a guard riding on the back? What types of luggage would be carried
on these trips? Back to studying period artwork and much research
for the team.
The Departure of the Diligence from Southampton, English School,
19th century, Private Collection, courtesy Bridgeman Art Library
International
London to Bristol and Bath stage coach, Charles Cooper Henderson
(1803-77), Private Collection, Photo © Christie's Images
The Exeter Royal Mail on a country road, James Pollard (1792-1867),
Private Collection, Bridgeman Art Library International
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One of the town crier's responsibilities was to loudly announce
the arrival of the mail. This was a social time for the town folks
to drop by, pick up mail and/or packages, do a little shopping
and visit with each other. What should our town crier look like?
What would be appropriate dress? We start to research those aspects
& possibilities.
Norman Rockwell's 1925 take of a colonial town crier. Saturday
Evening Post.
A reenactor playing the town crier
Colonial Williamsburg town crier. Courtesy history.org
Period chests, luggage, valises (leather travel bags like the
one seen on the side chair in the Magruder house painting) and
their hardware get researched for the luggage rack that was added
to the top of the coach
Roll over the image above: The coach gets moved back to make room
for a team of 4 horses, the left outbuilding gets surface materials,
people placeholders get moved around, a wheelwright is added and
luggage gets added atop the coach. The pink horizontal line just
above the top of the coach is a 100' above grade guideline to
properly scale the ship we will use. Final ships to use: the "Providence"
and the "Thane" (the taller of the two).
Sailors and postal carriers get added to the street scene rough;
their outfits are researched too. Top:"The Sailor’s
Return" (1786), Francis Wheatley. Courtesy National Maritime
Museum. Below: Portion of "Village Tavern", John Lewis
Krimmel, 1813–14, Courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art. There
is a postal carrier walking in the door. We use this style of
'sack' for our postal carrier/coach driver.
Horse drawn carts and old wagons are researched as a possible
prop on the left side of the composition. Plants are also further
researched for inclusion.
The 1789 death inventory for Christopher Lowndes helps figure
out what might be inside the store as well as outside on the
grounds. Items like cloaks, bolts of fabric, rope and olive
(castele) soap and the more common clay pipes are among this
fascinating list.
Above: hand made olive (castele) soap bars get cut per order.
The question comes up whether the "backyard" of the
Magruder House will show in this scene & if parts of the
Market Master composition will show in the Magruder scene (which
is already finished), so I overlay the 1878 plat with the cone
of vision for both Market Master's house (yellow) and the Magruder
house (pink) paintings over the Google Earth aerial to see where
they intersect.
Young girl's period clothing is researched and this outfit from
John Hoppner's "The Little Gardner", seems to be perfect
for the feel of this painting. Courtesy Detroit Institute of
Arts
Little boy's period clothing is researched and there are options.
Above a toddler's boy's period frock or gown,
"A philosophical movement toward less restrictive dress
for children occurred during the second half of the eighteenth
century, and by 1760 the already well-established fashion was
for little boys and girls to wear white dresses called frocks
that had sashes at the waist. Late in the 1700s, boys began
to wear suits with long trousers rather than knee breeches,
a fashion that won favor about twenty years before it was accepted
by adult men for dress wear. Throughout the century, the time
when a little boy went from skirts to pants, which was called,
"breeching," occurred anytime from age three to seven
and was symbolic of his first step toward becoming a "little
man."
There is a gray area when a 2 year old switches from the gown
to a "skeleton" suit like below.
Above portion of "Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga"
, Circa 1784. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828).
Courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rollover image above: A cart filled with barrels, piles of barrel
staves (the wooden slats that form a barrels side) and native
plants of Scottish thistle and black eyed Susans (the state
flower) are added on the left, Lowndes' black mare and a slave
are added behind the store, the roof gets aged & some of
the characters get moved. The team decides to use team member
Julie's son as the model for the 3 year old boy in this and
her big gray cat for the 'alpha' cat atop the rope coils watching
for mice. Her Scottish terrier does role playing once again
for this scene. The coach and roof overhang get changed again,
We need to decide which flag design, all current at this time,
will fly atop the ships masts.
August 9, 2010: finally ready to start painting the final artwork.
At the end of the rough composition, SHA makes the decision
to change the roof shakes to scalloped ones (see image below),
as recommended by one of our experts. Also changed are which
ship sails are unfurled, as experts felt being full sail with
the port just out of the composition was not realistic (the
ships would be going too fast to stop). There is a laundry list
made up of last changes we don't want to take the time to execute
in the rough composition; I need to start the painting process
immediately.
The squared off shakes used in the rough are switched to shakes
with a radiused bottom (helps prevent warping & cracking
as they age) similar to this restoration project at the Paca
house. Courtesy Carter Lively, Hammond Harwood House.
After a lot of work painting the actual stonework that still
exists today, there is discussion that there may have been stucco
applied over the stone at one point in time. Client goes back
over their excavation notes to see if the soil samples contained
what might have been stucco. I offer to finish the piece as
is and digitally change the stone to stucco so they have both
variations without having to repaint the structures walls manually.
Roll over image: last corrected rough morphs to the first stages
of painting
In this shot, you can see the tape registration marks, the rolled
tracing paper line drawing at the top and the printed out color
master rough still taped at the bottom edge.
Periodic in progress updates are sent to the SHA team. Note
the actual stonework and stones are reproduced in this painting.
Most of the surface is covered and protected while I work on
detail in areas, because gouache is water based and a matt surface.
It will pick up skin oils so I have to be very careful-most
of the time I wear a cotton paint glove with the fingers cuts
off on my right (paint) hand.
Only period correct glasses designs can be used on the characters.
Courtesy MD SHA.
A tin glazed mug to be used inside the store (seen through the
paintings open window, right). Courtesy MD SHA.
Close up of the teeny tiny detail of specific tin glazed mugs,
clay pipes, bolts of fabric and olive soap bars waiting to be
cut inside the store. Note the ruler for scale. On areas this
small, I wear magnification glasses to help with eye strain
over many hours. Stopping to update the client by shooting a
digital picture, loading it onto the workstation, correcting
the perspective and scaling it eats away precious painting time
and takes several hours to do each time.
Rollover the above image: The painting progresses quickly but
with many snags from questions we did not ask such as: How does
the coach stop/stay still? Is there a brake (answer was no,
not this early a model)? When the driver hops off to deliver
the sack of mail, should the horses be tied up to a post or
would someone be holding the reins? Where would that person
stand? What is the correct horse tack for this particular period
and team of horses?
An aerial diagram of the correct tack and rein paths, Courtesy
parks.ca.gov
Above: color coding each rein in the rough comp to try and figure
out how it is threaded through the tack properly and where it
goes next in a team of 4 horses.
From a 1911 encyclopedia on driving four-in-hand:
"The coachman should be careful to take the reins in his
hand before mounting to the box-seat, as otherwise his team
may make a start without his having the means to control them.
It is customary to hitch the reins, ready for him to take them,
on the outside terret (the ring on the pad through which the
rein runs) of the wheeler - the off-side wheeler in four-in-hand.
Standing on the ground beside the off-side wheel of his carriage,
ready to mount to the box-seat, the coachman, after drawing
up his reins till he almost feels the horses' mouths, must then
let out about a foot of slack in his off-side reins, in order
that when on his seat he may find all the reins as nearly as
possible equal in length in his hand. He mounts with them disposed
in his right hand precisely as they will be in his left when
ready to start."
At this late stage of the painting, we now know we will need
to add a new man to hold the team of horses still, so it is
back to the drawing board. Also, we realize that the hills west
of the site will show up on the far side of the Anacostia River.
We scramble to put together an idea of what would be open, wooded
and the type of vegetation (this also gets addressed in much
more detail in the Battle of Bladensburg painting).
Team member Richard Ervin points out:
"The ball fields on the opposite
bank of the river are an old landfill that has perhaps 30 feet
of fill over the original swampland. The swamplands would have
had a lot of tree cover on high spots in addition to areas of
marsh grass in the low spots. Depending on how wet the swampland
was during the dry season, it may have been tough to have timbered
this area by 1814, so perhaps parts of this swamp would have
supported more of a mature woodland.
This area would have been right in front of the low hills that
will be
to the left of the MM house."
I give the client team the only 3 options I can think of for
adding another figure (to hold the horses still) without having
to repaint an extensive area. The decision is to use a man in
back of the horses (off side wheeler horse).
I have to stop painting and do mannequin work to get a figure
who will show above the horses and still be identifiable as
holding the reins.
Roll over image above: details eventually get wrapped up.
The last areas to be finalized are the market square dry grass
texture in the foreground, tracking texture in the market alley
dirt/sand, some vultures riding the thermals above the ships
and signing the piece.
Final touches are added to the young girl, black-eyed Susans,
barrels, road dirt colors and cats.
Lowndes slave and black mare are finished. Those are the barrel
staves piled high behind the cart with barrels. Lowndes traded
them.
Time is running dangerously short to finish the piece. A guide
for matting & framing with exact dimensions is sent now
to the client.
Final coach detail complete with reflections on the shiny paints
Detail: sailors on leave, ships coming or going into the Port
of Bladensburg. Note the grassy areas are very scorched. It
was noted by the archaeological team how sandy this area was
and therefore would not be able to hold moisture for long this
time of year.
Detail: postal carrier/coach driver (no uniforms for the 'US
Postal Service' this early)
Detail: finished town crier and town resident waiting for the
mail. Note the midden (broken pipes, bottles and the like) under
the bench where towns people congregated.
Detail: barrels, cart and barrel staves for trading
Detail: Nanny with her purchased bolts of fabric & the 3
year old under her care.
Detail. Christopher Lowndes, entrepreneur; pink for men was
a very fashionable statement at this time!
We run through any last minute paint revisions with the team
and our scholastic experts.
Orlando Ridout comments:
" I love these projects because they
force us to think through all the little details and then chase
answers-it is always a productive process."
September 30, 2010
The paining is finished and given client's final approval. As
with the Magruder House and the Battle of Bladensburg paintings,
many of my fine detail brushes get "toasted" from
all the detail painting. I set several aside to send my team
as a memento of the hard work accomplished during the overall
project. I design the custom wood crates to ship the artwork
& they are made up.
The scanning firm is lined up. Paperwork like the reproduction
rights (these are copyrighted paintings) is taken care of .
The Magruder House and this painting are hand delivered to Albany
to be scanned, picked up, wrapped in a protective acetate film,
bubble wrapped, crated and shipped out to Maryland. Multiple
copies of the professional scans are burned for the client.
The crate arrives in perfect condition and my client emails
me to let me know they arrived safely and have been unpacked.
"WHOA. Les, you are truly talented and gifted. We just
received the paintings and opened them up. You are right, the
computer images do not do them justice. The detail is absolutely
amazing. Everyone saw them in our office and is blown away."
They have the artwork professionally framed and ready
for the private unveiling to a small group of distinguished
guests. I request feedback on all projects, as it helps me learn
more about people's perception each time.
Julie advises that the unveiling on November 3rd went very well:
"Just got back from the reception
and your paintings were very well received and everyone LOVED
them. They appreciated we took the time to figure out the type
of flowers in bloom in May and in August as well as the food
on the dining room table. It was a big hit and I had all of
these people wanting to post the paintings on websites and use
them in publications not to mention museums."
Top: client Julie Scablitsky discusses the Market Master's house
at the private unveiling. Below: the Magruder House scene is
studied. Courtesy Maryland State Highway Administration.
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~END~
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AN
ARCHAEOLOGIST'S
VIEWPOINT
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OVERVIEW
Project Team Leader
Julie M. Schablitsky, Chief Archaeologist,
Maryland State Highway Administration
Additional team
members:
Richard G. Ervin, senior archaeologist,
MD State Highway Administration
Nichole E. Sorensen-Mutchie, lab director,
MD State Highway Administration; Archaeologist,
Maryland Environmental Service
Susan Langley,State Underwater Archeologist,
Maryland Historical Trust
~
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Many
thanks to the consulting experts
who provided the team with valuable
input and feedback:
The Magruder House ("Politics
and Port"):
-Carter Lively,
Executive Director,
Hammond Harwood House
The Market Master's House
("Open for Business"):
-Orlando Ridout V,
Chief, Office of Research,
Survey & Registration, Maryland Historic Trust
-Kevin Crisman, Director, Center for Maritime
Archaeology and Conservation,
Texas A & M University
-Nancy A. Pope, Historian and Curator of
Postal History, National Postal Museum,
Smithsonian Institution
The
War of 1812/Battle of Bladensburg
("The Parole of An American Hero"):
-Anthony
S. Pitch, award winning historical
author & speaker
-John Mccavitt, Fellow of the Royal Historical
Society, widely published historian & author
-Christopher T. George, historian & author
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Project
Backgrounds
(in
chronological order)
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This
project encompassed much more than just the period artwork. Below,
I share with you some of the images from the archaeological digs
at these sites and the educational outreach. All images below,
courtesy Maryland State Highway Administration. Much more in depth
information can be found at the Bladensburg blog link at the bottom
of this column.
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The
Market Master's House, 1777
("Open for Business")
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East face of the Market Master's house.
"It is really interesting to see which units are yielding
the colonial artifacts and which are showing a strong prehistoric
presence. Most of the colonial artifacts seem to be concentrated
in units closest to and directly behind Market Master’s house.
We have yet to find a privy, though, and it’s still a mystery
to where that might be."
"Only two more days left to dig in the Market Master’s
backyard. As expected, we may have the ephemeral remains of an
outbuilding. In several of our units, we discovered dozens of
badly decomposed nails and fasteners associated with the colonial
stratum. Although it is a bit too early to make conclusions about
our findings, it appears that when Christopher Lowndes built his
stone house in 1760 he eventually added an outbuilding behind
the house. The building does not appear to be residential since
there are so few personal items."
"Archaeological activities are beginning to wind down at
the Market Master's house. We spent a fairly mild summer day recording
unit profiles and finishing excavations of the last few units."
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The
Magruder House,
1787
("Politics and Port")
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Lights, camera & action in front of the existing Magruder
House
"Today (Tuesday March 25th) we continued excavations in the
new units we started yesterday while Rick and Tom continued work
on unit 1. Units 3, 4, and 5 were still inundated with water so
we called in the big guns! The state highway’s administration
brought us an industrial-sized water pump to allow us to transform
units 3, 4, and 5 from bathtubs to workable, albeit very muddy,
archaeological units."
"While excavating at the house, SHA archaeologists recovered
a British 1774 King George halfpenny like the one pictured. For
the public and the press, the coin was a palpable connection to
the period of time just before the American Revolution and the
subsequent tension that led up to the forgotten and fascinating
event that made the town famous again, the Battle of Bladensburg.
We cannot be certain where the coin came from, whether it was
dropped by a wounded British soldier or was simply amongst the
pocket change of Mr. Henderson, the occupant of the house at the
time."
"Today Tara and I had some special helpers at the Maryland
State Highway Administration archaeology lab. Marcell Thompson
(left) and Javon Epps (right), Towson High School seniors, are
participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program. They are
interning with the Project Planning Division and get to experience
different careers within SHA. They helped us wash artifacts from
the Magruder House." |
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The
War of 1812/Battle of Bladensburg, 1814
("The Parole of An American Hero"):
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Excavation
of the Indian Queen Tavern site turned our sights to the actual
Battle of Bladensburg field, see that column on the right.
"Each test unit excavated today represented a different use
of the site, from the earliest to the latest historic occupation.
The only major concern is that we may have only scratched the
surface of the Indian Queen Tavern period – where are all
the pipestems and liquor bottles? With any luck, we’ll start
turning them up in the next day or so!"
"Another activity that took place today included recording
the stratigraphy of the site. The archeologists record the different
layers of soil they see in the walls of the pit they have dug
and this can help them determine the time period and activities
of that layer."
"In this full-speed-ahead, high-tech age of cyber-this and
virtual-that, it’s reassuring to know that some things still
require the human touch; that tools can be as simple as a Dr.
Du-More’s toothbrush, a common kitchen sieve, a plastic pan
of water, and a pair of willing hands. And even though yesterday’s
four-hour stint left me with blanched hands and puckered fingers
better suited to the corpse of someone tragically lost at sea,
I’m ready to head back to the lab and give it another go
next week."
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Miscellanous
& community outreach shots
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"The Cultural Resources Section at the Maryland State Highway
Administration (SHA) produces a quarterly newsletter. The summer
edition of the Cultural Resources Bulletin (CRaB) is a special
extended issue.
It includes in-depth articles on the Bladensburg Archaeology Project,
as well as information on other SHA projects."
Artifacts being revealed in the layers of soil
"Favorite finds? A serving spoon with shell-shaped bowl and
rather elegantly bent handle; part of a plate from the Municipal
Hospital (a psychiatric facility, I’m told); a small piece
of scalloped, blue-edged ceramic; a few animal bones (Ah! Mortality);
and an oddly shaped piece of corroded metal I still say looks
like a miniature fertility goddess—I dub thee “Bladensburg
Venus."
"A display of artifacts from the Magruder and Market Master’s
House excavations were presented. At the Port Town’s day
celebration children were given the opportunity to take part in
a mock dig. Here are some photos from the events." |
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About
the team:
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Julie
M. Schablitsky directs the
Cultural Resources Section at the Maryland State Highway Administration
and serves as their Chief Archaeologist. Her recent research includes
the War of 1812, 18th and 19th
century domestic sites in Maryland, and John Paul
Jones' Birthplace in Scotland. She also serves as a
lead archaeologist on the PBS Series, Time Team America.
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Project
Funding
The
Bladensburg project was funded through the
Transportation Enhancement Program and the
Maryland State Highway Administration.
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Visit http://bladenarch.blogspot.com/
Click
here to open in a new window to read
weekly accounts & comments of the archaeological events
while in progress!
Visit http://www.bladensburgarchaeology.com/
Click here to open in a new window to
see the Bladensburg archaeology interactive site. |
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~END~
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AN
ARTIST'S VIEWPOINT
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The
War of 1812/Battle of Bladensburg:
"EMBRACE OF THE ENEMIES', 1814
("The Parole of An American Hero")
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October 20, 2010
The design & composition begin.
Initially, this illustration began as a War of 1812 street-
scape on Bladensburg's main thoroughfare or what is
now Route 450/Annapolis Rd. With a gunshot wound
to the thigh, Commodore Joshua Barney was to be
seen carried on a stretcher down the main street in Bladensburg
by British Capt. Wainwright & 3 other
British sailors towards the field hospital (Ross Tavern)
and passing in front of the George Washington House
on August 24, 1814 @ 6 PM The client requested we
explore the humanity, mutual respect and compassion between enemies
noted in various written accounts
rather than focus on battle carnage. The view and
location of the piece were eventually moved west to
near the Maryland/Washington border at the con-
clusion of the Battle of Bladensburg (adjacent to what
is now the Fort Lincoln Cemetery) due to lack of
supporting and necessary archaeological evidence
after the team's archaeological digs.
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November
1, 2010
The scene and story shift to the battlefield:
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***************************************************************
For an short description of the Battle of Bladensburg/
War of 1812 check www.bladensburgarchaeology.com
or www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bladensburg
***************************************************************
SETTING: August 24, 1814, 3:45 PM, Bladensburg Rd
to Washington at the county line.
Barney was mounted between the two 18 pounders in
the middle of the road when his horse was shot from
under him. He then stood next to the canon when he
was shot in the upper right thigh. The ball went in at
an angle from his upper right thigh and into his hip
area. He lost a lot of blood. Three of his men tried
to help him leave the battlefield, but they only walk-
ed a few paces before Barney sunk down to the
ground. Two of the three men left and attempted to
escape. Lt. Jesse Huffington stayed behind with
Barney to await capture by the British.
Lt. Scott
came upon Barney and supported him. He left
Barney briefly and brought back Ross and Cock-
burn. "Well admiral, you have got hold of me at last,"
said the commodore. "Do not let us speak on that
ubject, commodore", Cockburn replied. I regret to
see you in this state. I hope you are not seriously
hurt." "Quite enough to prevent my giving you any
trouble for some time," said Barney. Ross heavily
praised Barney for his fighting. Ross and Cockburn
spoke amongst themselves at which time they sent
for their surgeon. After dressing Barney's wound,
Cockburn paroled Barney allowing him to go to DC
or Bladensburg. Wainwright was also there and was
commanded to carry Barney down to Ross' tavern in
Bladensburg.
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Client
defines final key characters, their
interaction & begins to put together the resources/research
we will use.
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1.
Captain Wainwright (first captain to Cockburn,
British Royal Navy): (No known photo). He is dressed in a
short round jacket, very young looking. In the scene, he will
be looking down at Barney.
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2.
Admiral George Cockburn (British Royal Navy):
His body language communicates a bit of arrogance, but his face
shows concern …. compassion does play on his lips as he tells
Barney that he hopes he is not seriously hurt.
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(Cropped) John James Halls portrait Rear-Admiral Sir George
Cockburn, 1772-1853, (1776-1834) c. 1817. Courtesy National
Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. One of several portraits
done in his life & used to study Cockburn's facial characteristics
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3.
Lieutenant Colonel William Scott, British
Royal Navy: (No known portrait) He is looking down
at Barney's wound.
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4.
General Robert Ross, British Royal Navy:
On bended knee, he holds a canteen of water in his
hand as if he has just offered Barney a drink (this is
later changed) and he is looking at Barney's face
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(Cropped) General Robert Ross portrait, Unknown
artist. One of several portraits done in his life & used to
study Ross' facial characteristics |
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5.
Commodore Joshua Barney (American US Navy): He
will be pale from loss of blood and diaphoretic. His expression
of one of discomfort, but not wincing pain and he is listening
to Ross. He is 55 years of age.
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1819 Rembrandt Peale portrait of Joshua Barney commissioned
by the city of Baltimore; one of several portraits done in his
life
used to study Barney's facial characteristics |
|
6.
Lieutenant Jesse Huffington (Barney's aide &
Sailing Master, US Chesapeake Flotilla): (No known portrait).
He was 22 years of age. Body language and facial expression is
that of protection and respect of his fallen commodore. Jesse
is looking up and listening to Ross.
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Lining
up & analyzing 300 years of historical
maps in the Bladensburg area for the project's
second Battle of Bladensburg view study:
The topography of the area changed
dramatically over the course of 300 years.
Many geographical landmarks no longer
exist to enable easy registering of maps.
|
Affair of Bladensburg, 1816 Map inset,
Memoirs of My Own Times
by General James Wilkinson shows the troop movement
A 60-degree 'cone of vision' in pink over the Wilkinson Map
studies a possible view looking NE down the hill towards the
town of Bladensburg.
Roughly the same area as the Wilkinson map, above is a portion
of an 1814 sketch by D. Evans, L't 3d Dr'ns D'y As't Q'r Mas'r
Gen'l."Sketch of the march of the British Army under Gen'l
Ross
from
the 19th to the 29th August 1814 : [central Maryland between
Benedict and Washington D.C.]. Courtesy Library of Congress.
The team is looking at different maps to splice together a compos-
ite of the action location & the topography in 1814.
The 1814 D. Evans map superimposed in
perspective on current
terrain in Google Earth, looking NE
The 1814 D. Evans map superimposed in perspective on current
terrain in Google Earth, looking NE up the hill towards
Washington DC
Trying to line up different maps with different scales: 1816
Wilkin-
son Map Insert over 1814 D Evans Map
Another map of the troop locations, Battle
of Bladensburg:
sketch of the action fought near Bladensberg [i.e. Bladensburg],
August 24th, 1814/Thos. Ormsby, Weedon, July 19th 1816,
Courtesy Library of Congress
Continuing to line up different maps/different
information: 1816
Wilkinson Map Insert over 1816 Ormsby Map
Section,
1886 USGS map; the Rives property mentioned in
battle accounts still exists & is noted on this map
Wilkinson Map over 1886
USGS map with potential view (pink lines)
Wilkinson Map over 1946 USGS map
with potential view
1979 USGS map in the vicinity of Bladensburg
Wilkinson Map over 1979
USGS map with potential view
Wilkinson Map over 2010
USGS map with potential view in
Google Earth
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Building
the rough composition & study
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MD SHA team role-playing & doing mannequin work for main
characters poses. Left to right back row: Richard Ervin, as
George Cockburn; April Fehr, as William Scott; Lisa Kraus, as
Robert Ross. Front: Anne Bruder as Joshua Barney and Julie
Schablitsky (team leader), as Jesse Huffington. Nichole
Sorensen Mutchie, photographer. Courtesy MD SHA.
Rough composition begins to be built digitally on my workstation.
A mirror image of the SHA team's character positions super
imposed on a real time Google Earth perspective view with a
10' grid overlaid. Looking down the hill NE towards the town
of Bladensburg
A mirror image of the SHA team's character positions super
imposed on a 3-D version of the 1816 Wilkinson Map & a 10'
grid for scale (overlaid in Google Earth) looking down the hill
NE towards the town of Bladensburg
Google Earth perspective with many period topo corrections &
the 1816 Wilkinson map 3-D overlay. Character positions
(mirror image) super imposed (2 scale choices).
Modeling the new (1814) topo elevation zones to show the
(Dueling) creek, Anacostia River & town of Bladensburg
beyond.
Dropping in additional props, figures (without regard to dress)
&
vegetation material in the rough composition
Changing the vegetation to reflect the dryness and extreme
heat of August 24, 1814. There are written accounts of men
collapsing & dying in the heat that day; it was reported it
was
in the low 90's that morning.
Experimenting with main character placement, gestures, props
& proximity to the 18# cannons
Working on peripheral figure placement & movement without
regard to mannequin attire. The main characters get flipped
back to their original positions.
This rough composition development continued up
until January 13, 2011, when the client made the
decision to change the view & direction swinging
roughly 100 degrees clockwise (looking SE) to
the view above.
***********************************************************
The rough process begins all over again with
core characters thus far & Google Earth per-
spective shots of existing topography to
establish the new direction & cone of vision
(below).
New view/direction, same physical location: this vertical format
is
changed to the horizontal one below
Developing this new view progresses
Always checking for correct scale: the foreground 18 pounder
cannon
Adding textures for the 1814 landscape; adjusting
contemporary topo contours to reflect 1814
Placing British & American troop figures/killed, injured and
alive for scale and location without regard to their dress
Locating exactly where Veitch's House/Hill and the 12# cannon
line would fall today; Google Earth aerial with 100' grid overlay
Establishing the American and British lines and their paths at
the
end of the Battle of Bladensburg (red-British; blue-American)
Tweaking those boundaries with client as more characters &
props get developed; there is constant daily back and forth
communication between team members
Working out rough ideas for the foreground and "road litter".
Discussing very specific clothing details back and forth
Adding soldiers to the mid and distant grounds, deciding who
should be an American or British & doing an actual head count
of the number of British & Americans on the hill.
Details, details, details: adding a British guard behind
wounded Americans
Working out the smoke/dust effects we want. Decision was
made to leave it translucent rather than the heavy, opaque
smoke & dust one normally sees in battle paintings, in order
to show more battle aftermath detail
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March
4, 2011: the final Battle of Bladensburg
rough composition is finally done. It has been
almost 5 months of non-stop work &
research for this piece to get to this point.
Hand painting the gouache interpretive
historical War of 1812 illustration begins!
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The
rough composition is printed out in pieces &
spliced to full size, 24"h x 34"w. A line drawing
is transferred via graphite paper as a painting
guide and the painting process proceeds.
For a more complete methodology of this process,
please see "An Artist's Viewpoint", Magruder house on
this page for rough composition transfer details. The full size
rough is hung on a near-
by wall to act as a road guide to the painting.
The subject matter calls for a more brisk, raw &
active painting style than the Magruder and
Market Master's house paintings.
The sky and grounds & tree line are painted in first. Here
3 twelve
# cannons in distant ground, scorched fields & pasture from
the
battle, fallen British & Americans-all in tiny accurate battle
dress.
Same area but with the 12# cannons done & the residual smoke
& dust from the battle added. The painting starts to become
moody and atmospheric. As I work on each soldier, I wonder what
they had been thinking when struck down, who their families were,
what they felt about this war and who they left behind. It leaves
me very emotionally drained at the end of each day.
Detail of wounded Americans being escorted off the battle field.
Showing the toil and emotions of each man, as well as the
uniform details, takes time and care even for secondary figures
Soldier detail before final smoke & dust are painted in
Close up of one of the field surgeons attending the wounded,
final detail
Detail of the surgeon wearing a bloodied leather surgeon's
apron rushing to assist Joshua Barney before final layers of
smoke & dust are painted in
Most of the secondary material is finished & work turns to
the
key characters and foreground. The 18# foreground cannon will
eventually have its wheel design changed.
Painting begins on the main characters faces and hands after
the horse and soldier behind them are finished. Every square
inch of the painting gets checked for period authenticy, down
to the horse's blanket & tack, saddle and hats strewn
about the ground.
Uniforms start to take shape and details of the main characters
A lot more detail is added including suggesting tiny correct
buttons/buttonholes, shako plates for each soldier and Joshua
Barney's belt buckle. All the men's uniforms are dusty, dirty,
sweaty and show wear.
Detail, Scott's torn and frayed uniform
Finished British General Robert Ross
Detail: Finished British Admiral George Cockburn
Detail: Finished American Commodore Joshua Barney
Detail: Finished American Sailing Master, Lieutenant Jesse
Huffington, as we might imagine him (no known portrait)
Detail: Finished British Captain Wainwright (first captain to
Cockburn, British Royal Navy), as we might imagine him
(no known portrait)
Detail: Finished Lieutenant Colonel William Scott, British Royal
Navy, as we might imagine him (no known portrait)
An existing antique American shoulder medallion (held cross-
ed straps in place at chest center) is used as a guide for the
lost medallion left in the road sand in the foreground. There
were hundreds of items researched during the project that were
used as guides for authenticity.
The foreground cast aside or lost soldier items are finished
It is decided that the foreground 18# cannon wheel construction
is too archaic for 1814, so the wheel has to be repainted with
new strapping hardware & wood joints
An antique militia bass battle drum that was used in the Battle
of Bladensburg painting. Top: the actual drum (courtesy cowanauctions.com)
, bottom: the painted drum without the 200 years of age, fading
& wear.
Signing, copyrighting and dating the painting. From the first
Indian Queen Tavern concept to finished Battle of Bladensburg
painting took the team 7 1/2 months to complete.
A bit weary & wide-eyed after a marathon 17 months of
extremely long & intense work days working on the suite of
3
paintings, a few quick promo shots are taken for my client.
After the professional scan & shipping are taken care of,
the
suite of the 3 Bladensburg interpretive historical paintings
project is done and under the care of the Maryland State
Highway Administration, Cultural Resources department.
When the crate is opened and the painting inspected first hand,
my client advises:
"Just unpacked it and we are all speechless......it
is a beautiful piece..." and the report
from the unveiling/reception:
"It was a smashing hit. I have to go in the field now, but
hopefully Nichole will send photos. About 70 people there....standing
room only. I gave the presentation on the archaeology of Bladensburg
and then read a few paragraphs from Anthony Pitch's book that
set the scene for the painting with the painting next to me covered.
The tension was mounting and then the painting revealed. There
was a pause and the room burst in applause. The audience, including
Barney's descendents, all wanted prints from it. Rick gave background
on the players and painting and people loved it. Looks like it
was a home run Les. You out did yourself. "
June 15, 2011: team members Julie Schablitsky
(top image, standing left in the lovely black dress), Richard
Ervin (middle and bottom in the olive shirt and Nichole Sorensen-Mutchie
(the photographer and out of the images) host the unveiling of
"Embrace of the Enemies" and field questions about the
project and their research. Courtesy Maryland State Highway Administration.-copy-3.jpg)
~END~
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Special
thanks to Lisa Zeimer, AICP, Assistant
Vice President, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Environment
Manager and Henry Ward, Parsons Brinckerhoff
for their help managing the contract paperwork
while I tried to focus on the artwork.
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Sarah
Brice as John Brice ESQ estate executrix upon John's death in 1776
