In the Nineteenth Century the “sun never set” on the British Empire, which spanned the globe.  The Empire’s economic, military, and political administration depended on ships and naval might.  Generations of British artists documented this fact through their detailed paintings of majestic merchant and military vessels sailing in open waters, entering exotic ports, and defeating the Empire's enemies in battle.
 
The Nineteenth Century also saw the rise of a new power.  The United States of America, itself once part of the British Empire, was starting to assert itself with innovative ship design, global competition in international trade, and a growing navy.  Like their British counterparts, American ship owners, captains, and merchants started commissioning works from British artists to document and legitimize their new wealth and power.

Art of Empire uses works from the South Street Seaport Museum collection to explore how British artists and artistic traditions helped document the emerging American nation, defining it—by association with the British Empire—as a new world power.