New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-02-08
PAGES "FARR1GUT."
LETTER FROM THE ARTIST.

LETTER FROM THE ARTIST.
HOW THE ADMIRAL WAS LAsHED TO THE MAST OF
THE HARTFORD IN MOBILE BAY-HIs PART IN
TIE PAINTING OF THE PICTURE.
TO the Editor OF The Tribune.
SIR: am much obliged to your correspondent
"A. b. for his words in time in your issue OF Feb.
2 in regard TO "Farragut dashed to the mast" Per
hans "lashedr suggests more of the stralt-Jacket
than suited the occasion, when the gallant Admiral
was only made secure by "yarn" passed around
hid waist and whipped around the shroud some
feet back OF him. so that he might move down step
or two before being caught under the arms by the
rope.
II is indeed pity that this "poetic fancy" so
rooted in trntb shond need so frequent attestation
II wonld seem needless now to be put under oath IN
rccard to facts narrated to me by the Admiral him
self which. twelve years ago, became the basis OF
nv picture-for the rigging the yard. the Admiral,
his coat and trousers and boots and buttons rope
knot and even the weather itself, all were JOINT
stock CAPITAL in the concern. i meant 1t for por-
trait of the whole affair." and So false IN one iaise III
ALL compels me to defend my position of entire
truthfulness in the whole composition. The art as
SUCH is open for the judgment of the present and
future The truth of the subject is all the great
Admiral's. with which j could not tamper, ana
whose integrity it is my duty to defend.
Nothing probably was more remote from the Al
mrals thought than the possibility of his view OF
the case being ever disputed questioned, and am
willing to re-repeat these facts because ground for
cavil il seems TO me- comes from misconceplon OF
the exact order of events and of the moment nave
chosen for a calm. picturesque view OF the exact
lineaments of the hero OF the night. could NOT
paint him in the smoke of howitzers-or at least
! did not choose to do s0-OT speaking thfough
his tube or coming down or going up the shrolds.
Art has rights are bound to respect, best repre-
scented generally by the truth.
During the earlier part OF the day farragut was
on the other side Of the ship that il, on the
side where | do not represent him. The tor
pedo ground was already passed over, Sand ISLAND
passed and perhaps the fort. At all events he de-
cded to change his position and go up the shreuds
Oh this side of the mainmast, where have placed
him. whether it was for better view alone, or to
avoid the noise and smoke of the howitzcr over
head or because he had no further need of the
speaking-tube attached to the shroud and
running along down to the deck. Indeed
I cannot remember now il he told Inc
precisely why he came down and went
up on this side. / know he said he did do so, and
that while crossing the deck he saw a yarn" using
his own word and remarked to me that 1t was Just
the thing"-hecause while up on the other side the
thought passed through his mind that If he were
stunned disabled, his body would be SHE'D OIL into
the water by the shrouds, and not caught on the
deck even as yOur correspondent suggests. And he
said: "Then my wife and boy would not have my
body even" i got the impression that perhaps he
Thought there was after ALL some foolhardiness in
his previous exposure. Ut seems rather severe to
dssect mans heart at such moment.) So, he said,
he picked up the yarn" and when he reascended
In
allowed his discretion to play the better part OF
valor and passed the middle part of the rope around
his waist as a loop, and laying the two ends to-
gethcr whipped" them over shTOud behind HIM
and tied just such knot as he afterward tied for
me.
In his first pose" for me, at the house Of the com
mander of the Navy-Yard at Brooklyn, the Admiral
himself arranged some boxes to keep his feet III
the right position, and held on to stick placed at
the proper angle to represent the futtOck shroud,
and took the exact position required for the stu
alton. AT another time he placed rope around
him and tied the knot for model. This rope kept
till removed my studio from EagleswOod, about
ten years since, when it was lost.
The Navy-Yard people promised Inc n model of the
rigging which needed, but delay ensuing, made
the model myself from exact measurements Of the
ship at the NavyYard; and when the picture was
done. aud the Admiral brought his wife to see IT.
think he disposed to flatter the landsInan
who had made the model of the flagship Hartford
than the artist who had made the picture of it,
though he was kind enough TO say. after various
observations, that il seemed to him " to he about
the thing"
No hero had less Of boast false dignity in his
style. Once at the presentation of Gen. SCOTS por
trait to Gen. Grant at the Union Leagues reception
while arranging for sitting from the Admiral,
suggested sending carriage for him when he should
come to Eagleswood. He said :" can go up to your
studio i'll any cart that may happen to he at the de-
pot" The easy chair nautical heroes who are worried
lest Farragut's fame he dimmed by the episode Of
the rope and knot will luckily wait till they are
humping torpedo grounds in their shrouds OF
running down the ghosts of Dantesque Tecumsehs
before they are likely to have a notion anywhere
nearly 50 foolish as this hazy mirage which ioated
in the Admrals affections and spanned tho hiatus
of his dutes in peril and triumph.
The whole truth IL. FaTagut paid his debt to his
country III gong up into the shrouds to through
his duty and do it. The rope was purely private
family affair. tdid not mean to emphasize il in my
picture as III this note, but from the first news Of
the triumph at Mobile thought little boys and
girls for thousand years would read of this event
and see the great hero tied he really was. But
the Admiral himself had no notion of the romance
Of the thing. and secuted the idea. He said he felt
~ much at home there this bOor and more"
AeW-Y YORK, Feb. >. 1877. WA. PAGE.