Attack on Bunker's Hill, with the Burning of Charles Town
We look across and down at a channel of water separating two landmasses labeled "Boston" and "Charles Town" in this horizontal landscape painting. Four three-masted ships are in the aquamarine-blue harbor between us and the land. Three of them have their sails unfurled and smoke billows from the broad, starboard side of each. Tidy rows of brown houses line the area of Boston. A puff of white smoke rises from the farthest point. Two arrow-shaped missiles, perhaps projectiles on fire, arc toward Charles Town, where billowing gray plumes of smoke rise from vivid orange fire on the far side of the landmass. Rowboats bring soldiers to the shore of Charles Town, close to where hundreds of soldiers line up and fire at each other. Much of the rest of Charles Town is a hill leading to sheer cliffs to our right. Tan and gray-colored smoke mixes among bright white clouds against a pale blue sky on the top half of the painting.
Colors in this work
Details
- Artist
- American 18th Century
- Date
- 1783 or after
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 53.3 x 70.8 cm (21 x 27 7/8 in.) framed: 60.3 x 77.4 x 3.8 cm (23 3/4 x 30 1/2 x 1 1/2 in.)
- Department
- CAB
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Palette
-
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- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
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War and Military Both · 99%
The title identifies an attack at Bunker's Hill, and the image shows organized military formations, ships, smoke, fire, and apparent artillery or gunfire.
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Conflict Both · 99%
The catalog title and the depicted opposing formations, firing activity, burning buildings, and naval presence establish armed conflict as the central subject.
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Nautical Visual · 99%
Several large sailing ships and numerous smaller boats occupy the channel and foreground.
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Waterscapes Visual · 99%
A broad body of water dominates the foreground and middle ground, separating the two landmasses.
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Cityscapes and City Scenes Both · 94%
The composition visibly includes the labeled settlements “BOSTON” and “CHARLES TOWN,” with clustered buildings forming an important part of the scene.
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Text Visual · 99%
The words “BOSTON” and “CHARLES TOWN” are visibly incorporated into the painted image as location labels.
Visual Qualities
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Bright and Vivid Colors Visual · 94%
Turquoise and blue-green water, orange-red flames, yellow buildings, green terrain, and pale clouds produce a notably vivid palette.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The National Gallery of Art catalog identifies the work as a painting in oil on canvas.
Geographic Regions
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American Art Metadata · 90%
The catalog identifies the maker broadly as “American 18th Century,” supporting a general American-art classification without naming an individual artist.
Source & rights
American 18th Century. Attack on Bunker's Hill, with the Burning of Charles Town. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
High-resolution sources
- IIIF image service ↗ 6,911 × 5,129 · National Gallery Of Art · Available