Awaiting the Reply
Men in a cabin of the Great Eastern await a telegraph reply from across the Atlantic, in Dudley's interior recording the 1866 cable-laying voyage. Full commentary ↓
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Awaiting the Reply is an oil painting by Robert Charles Dudley (ca. 1866) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 59.1 × 85.1 cm.
In the pictureIn a low-ceilinged ship's cabin, a dozen or so men stand or sit, all looking toward one spot. On the table in the middle are telegraph instruments and papers, and by a lamp low on the right wall, one man peers at an instrument. A coiled rope lies on the floor, and the sea is visible through the window.
BackgroundThis is the moment in 1866 aboard the Great Eastern, the Atlantic cable-laying ship, when everyone waited for a signal from the shore station in Ireland at the other end of the cable. A reply meant the cable was alive, so everyone on board waited tensely. Robert Dudley was an artist who sailed on this voyage, and he recorded not only the decks and coasts but also the atmosphere inside cabins like this one.
Puzzle tipAs an interior, it is easy to frame with the straight-line pieces of the ceiling beams and windows. Assemble the figures' faces, the bright shirts and the pieces around the lamp on the right first, then fill in the brown walls and floor using the circular lines of the rope as clues. Hard (about 100 pieces) is a good fit.
- Artist
- British, 1826–1909
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 59.1 x 85.1 cm
- Credit line
- Gift of Cyrus W. Field, 1892
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Dudley's Six Paintings of the 1866 Atlantic Cable, Made Aboard Ship
In 1866 the largest ship in the world laid a telegraph cable across the Atlantic. We read, in order, the six paintings left by an artist who sailed on the voyage.
