DATE: Monday, August 25, 1997               TAG: 9708220955

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   20 lines

THAT WAS THEN

the USS Cumberland in Hampton Roads on March 8, 1862. The painting

is one of a series of six canvases depicting the history of the

Confederate ironclad. They were painted by Benjamin Adworth

Richardson (1833-1909), who helped to man one of the guns during

the Virginia's two engagements in March 1862. Recent research has

shown that the six paintings were not fanciful recreations but were

authentic icons of her brief career. The paintings were reproduced

in color on postcards during the 1907 Jamestown Exposition. Owned by

the Chrysler Museum of Art since 1954, the paintings are now on

exhibit at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Nauticus.

- George Tucker

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