USS Maine [colour lithograph published in 1898 commemorating the sinking of the tragic ship which triggered the Spanish-American War, reverse mounted on glass, with brass chain frame].

[Boston, MA: F.N. Atwood, c. 1895 (1898)]. One colour lithograph reverse mounted on glass, sized 8 x 13 in., fitted with brass chain frame and hanger, possibly used as chimney flue cover (minor edgewear to glass, minor soiling to chain, very minor spotting, dustsoiling), still an excellent piece w/ bright strong image. The USS Maine (ACR-1) was launched in 1895, and was an armored cruiser together with her near-sister ship USS Texas with two gun turrets staggered en echelon rather than on the centerline, with fore gun sponsoned out on the starboard side of the ship. As she took seven years to build, she was out of date upon launching. She sailed with the North Atlantic Squadron, operating from Norfolkd along the East Coast, and the Caribbean. Feb. 15, 1898 an explosion obliterated the forward third of the ship, killing 260 sailors, and the Spanish-American War began in April, 1898 two months later. Atwood (b. 1844), was a Massachusetts nautical maritime painter who operated studios in Boston and Maine, and painted the original for Brigadier General H.A. Wheeler in 1895, and in 1898, the colour print was issued as a patriotic souvenir. Victorian flue covers were used after the chimney flues were removed in 19th-century homes following Winter, and often served as an advertising giveaway.