View of the Battleground, Concord
Title
View of the Battleground, Concord
Subject
Painting of the battleground where the Concord Fight took place on April 19, 1775
Description
The North Bridge area in Concord—and particularly the bridge itself—is powerfully symbolic of the struggle for independence that began here in 1775. But for more than eighty years (from 1793 until 1874), no bridge stood on the site where the Concord Fight had taken place. This oil painting of the battleground depicts the area in the mid-19th century, when there was no bridge.
In 1793, the “rude bridge that arched the flood” was dismantled. Rather than rebuilding on a spot vulnerable to the elements and requiring frequent repair, the town erected a new bridge (Flint’s Bridge) near Abishai Flint’s, and relocated the road that had run on the north side of the river, where the Buttrick house stood, to the south side, thereby creating a section of what is now known as Monument Street. There was no bridge when Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” was sung at the 1837 dedication of the Battle Monument. A new bridge was finally constructed in 1874, when a Victorian cedar bridge, with gazebos, was put up for the 1875 centennial celebration of the Concord Fight.
This oil painting bears a striking resemblance to a lithograph known to have been done by Gloucester (Massachusetts) landscape and marine painter and lithographer Fitz Hugh Lane (1804-1865) about 1840. Because the lithograph is signed by Lane, the unsigned painting has sometimes also been attributed to him. However, Lane specialists have not found sufficient evidence (stylistic or other) to ascribe the painting to the artist. It may have served as the source for Lane’s lithograph, or it may have been painted from the lithograph.
Regardless of whose work the painting represents and of whether it preceded the lithograph or vice versa, the lithograph influenced mid-19th century consciousness of the spot on which the Concord Fight had taken place.
In 1793, the “rude bridge that arched the flood” was dismantled. Rather than rebuilding on a spot vulnerable to the elements and requiring frequent repair, the town erected a new bridge (Flint’s Bridge) near Abishai Flint’s, and relocated the road that had run on the north side of the river, where the Buttrick house stood, to the south side, thereby creating a section of what is now known as Monument Street. There was no bridge when Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” was sung at the 1837 dedication of the Battle Monument. A new bridge was finally constructed in 1874, when a Victorian cedar bridge, with gazebos, was put up for the 1875 centennial celebration of the Concord Fight.
This oil painting bears a striking resemblance to a lithograph known to have been done by Gloucester (Massachusetts) landscape and marine painter and lithographer Fitz Hugh Lane (1804-1865) about 1840. Because the lithograph is signed by Lane, the unsigned painting has sometimes also been attributed to him. However, Lane specialists have not found sufficient evidence (stylistic or other) to ascribe the painting to the artist. It may have served as the source for Lane’s lithograph, or it may have been painted from the lithograph.
Regardless of whose work the painting represents and of whether it preceded the lithograph or vice versa, the lithograph influenced mid-19th century consciousness of the spot on which the Concord Fight had taken place.
Rights
Images © 2020 James E. Coutré
Creator
Artist Unknown
Source
Purchased through the Samuel Hoar Fund
Publisher
Concord Free Public Library
Date
1840-50
Relation
2020-001-188
Format
Oil on canvas
Type
Painting
Identifier
2020-001-127
Coverage
28" x 38"
Collection
Tags
Citation
Artist Unknown, “View of the Battleground, Concord,” William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library, accessed May 20, 2025, https://mail.sc.concordlibrary.org/items/show/2255.