Conflagration of the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1819

Samuel Jones
American, 19th century
Possibly John Lewis Krimmel
American, born Germany, 1786–1821

On March 9, 1819, Masonic Hall, built just 8 years earlier, burned to the ground. A Philadelphia publisher commissioned artists Samuel Jones and John Lewis Krimmel to create a composition of the fire’s devastation for distribution as a print (etched by John Hill). Circulation of such sensational events was an early 19th-century means of broadcasting news, expanding the reach of fine arts, and making a profit. Jones painted this work, which served as a study for the print. Krimmel, the nation’s first great genre painter, was hired to refine and amplify the figural scene in the foreground. As the print’s composition reveals significant changes to the figures, it is unknown if Krimmel executed any of the figures here, or if he developed his designs wholly apart from this painting.

Status: On View, Gallery 169
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Samuel Jones
Title: Conflagration of the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Place: Philadelphia (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1819
Medium: Oil on mahogany panel
Dimensions: 48.4 × 60 cm (19 3/16 × 22 3/16 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Wesley M. Dixon Jr., Jamee J. and Marshall Field, Gloria and Richard Manney, Brooks and Hope B. McCormick Foundation, Mrs. Philip D. Sang, and Jeffrey Shedd; gift of Emily Crane Chadbourne, Leon Mandel, Stella Manheimer, Vena F. Schaaf, and Celia Schmidt by exchange; the Edward E. Ayer, Marian and Samuel Klasstorner, and A.A. McKay funds
Reference Number: 1983.28
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/111295/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Annual Report 1982–83 (Chicago, 1983) p. 31 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “A Record of Sharing with Chicago’s Masterpiece,” (Chicago, 1983) p. 6 (ill.).
Milo Naeve, “John Lewis Krimmel: an Artist in Federal America,” (Newark, 1987) cat. 9 (ill.).

Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Germans, A Celebration of Their Arts, 1683–1850, Oct. 17, 1982–Jan. 9, 1983; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Mar. 5–May 15, 1983; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, July 2–Sept. 3, 1983; Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 10, 1983–Jan. 29, 1984 (Chicago only; not in cat.)

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Conflagration of the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.