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May 2012

Dear SeacoastNH.com,
I sent you a picture of this oil painting of the Bonhomme Richard back in 2008 and now I found the same oil painting on the Web called “First Recognition of the American Flag by a Foreign Government,” by Edward Moran. Could mine be an original? 
Raymond Leija  
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SeacoastNH.com Reply

Not likely, Raymond, I'm afraid That is the RANGER, not the Bonhomme Richard. It's on the cover of a local book about John Paul Jones by Joe Sawtelle published by Portsmouth Marine Society. The print is widely published because it was issued as a lithograph. Lots of copies around. Not sure of their value, but the one owned by Sawtelle appears in the book we produced last year entitled MARITIME PORTSMOUTH.

READ MORE on John Paul Jones

If yours has actual paint on it, then it might be a copy. It is different from the lithograph copy and looks in the photo to me like a 20th century copy possibly made from the lithograph. I assume it isn't signed. If so, it could actually be a forgery -- or then again, it could be another version by the same artist. I’m no expert, but that seems doubtful. Moran died in 1901, so seems unlikely it is an early version of his painting. But stranger things have happened.

If you search the Web and figure out where the original by Moran is located, it might be fun to send a photo to them and see what they say.  Again, my guess is that someone copied the lithograph of the RANGER painting, maybe as a student project.

Your accompanying letter addressed to a Mrs. John Paul Jones in California adds to the mystery. The postal date of 1936, I’m guessing, is when the painting was made. It looks similar to so many Jones paintings of that era that were used in calendars and postcards and book illustrations. There was an American painter named John Paul Jones, not to mention an athlete and a guitar player. I’ met a young John Paul Jones myself a few years ago on the lawn of the John Paul Jones House.

Hopefully a reader will help us sort this out. -- JDR

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