Ocean Life, (painting).

Ocean Life, (painting).

Schussele, Christian, 1824-1879, painter.

Sommerville, James McAlpin 1825-1899, painter.

Ocean Life, (painting).

Underwater Marine Life, (painting).

Watercolor, gouache, graphite, and gum arabic on off-white wove paper.

19 x 17 7/16 in. (48.3 x 69.7 cm).

(Lower left:) Jas M. Sommerville M.D. (Lower right:) C. Schussele signed

This painting was created to illustrate a pamphlet of the same title written by Dr. James McAlpin Sommerville and published in Philadelphia in 1859. Christian Schussele and James Sommerville collaborated on the painting which depicts in careful detail seventy-five examples of undersea plant and animal life including seaweed, urchins, sponges, bivalves, crustaceans, and fish found in the waters off Florida and Central and South America. In the pamphlet all of the plants and animals are numbered and identified using a diagram and legend. Sommerville translated his direct observations of undersea life in his drawing and Schussele applied watercolor and gouache.

Waterscape -- Sea

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, New York 10028 Accession Number: 1977.181

Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, New York Sale 3749 (April 17, 1975), no. 6

Formerly in the collection of Wolf, Erving, Mr. & Mrs., 1975-1977.

Avery, Kevin J., "American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1835," New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002, pg. 244, 340.

Avery, Kevin J., "American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1835," New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002, pg. 245.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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