Barque Vierge Marie

[bagpiper]

One of my (many) hobbies is genealogy. My family literally washed ashore on the shores of the US in about 1854. While I don't know the name of the ship that was involved in the wreck, one prime candidate is the Belgian Barque Vierge Marie.

While I've combed newspaper accounts (http://www.johnkeating.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0) of the wreck and found several articles, I'm still looking for an image of her.

A 19th century Belgian artist, Egide Linnig, painted her at anchor on the Schelde off Antwerp. The painting is apparently in a private collection in Europe. I managed to avoid any subject dealing with fine arts almost entirely in school, and have no idea on how to even start tracking down this painting. Any ideas? (I'm not necessarily interested in purchasing the painting (unless I can determine that it was indeed the ship that brought my ancestors to the US), an image or print for personal use would be fine...)

On a matter more folks here might be able to help with... Does know if the Belgian government/museum/shipwrights kept plans for their barques? Barring a 19th century oil, a copy of the lines would be a wonderful keepsake.

Thanks for any help!
John

[03Aug2004] Edited to include link to newspaper accounts...

[ 08-03-2004, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: bagpiper ]

[Meerkat]

Washed ashore eh? Does that make you a wetback? ;)

[bagpiper]

Nah.. They gave us beach towels at the welcome station... ;)

Trying to build a boat to get us all home, but the boatshop ain't big enough for the boat it'd take to get us all there. We Irish breed too quick. smile.gif (Actually, the family tree I put together for the family reunion this year was 20 feet long and a foot deep. Additions made at the reunion brought it out to an even 23 feet! :eek: )

[psk125]

You should probably start by emailing the art dealer if you haven't already. It looks like they have the painting for sale :http://www.fineartemporium.com/se-Linnig-E.htm ., since their site puts it under "... known works in private collections and in the art trade..." Ask them to send you an email of it, since it isn't posted on their website. You can''t know if you want to buy it unless you can see what it looks like -- it's a painting, after all!

[Bruce Hooke]

I'm not so convinced that the painting in question is necessarily for sale. It seems to be listed as simply an example of known works by this artist that are in private collections and so MIGHT be for sale at some point. The site mostly seems to be oriented towards BUYING paintings rather than selling them. However, I do agree that contacting the dealer is a good place to start. You can start by ask if the painting is for sale. If not you can explain your interest and inquire if the dealer knows how you could contact the painting's current owner (possibly with the dealer as a middleman if the owner does not want to be contacted directly). You could then explain your interest in the painting to the owner and inquire if it might be possible to arrange for a professional photographer to take a picture of the painting.

[bagpiper]

They were actually my first stop (and where I first "heard" of the painting). Unfortunately, they have no other information than what was on their website. The response:

The painting is not for sale by us and unfortunately we do not have an image of it. I have no information in which collection is it currently, it was sold some years ago at auction. The Register book is sold out, but most of the information of it can be found on our website. I did find the name of a couple who seem to be experts in Linnig's works, but have not yet received a response from them.

(Bruce - What part of RI are you in? I spent several years up north in Lincoln (Lime Rock, to be precise).)

Thanks for all help and suggestions so far!
John