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Johannes Adam Simon Oertel

Johannes Oertel was born in Furth, Bavaria, near Nuremberg, and maintained lifelong interests in both art and religion. He attended the Polytechnic Institute of Nuremberg and studied in Munich with J. M. Enzing-Muller, a noted engraver.

In 1848, Oertel immigrated to America, settling in Newark, New Jersey, where he attempted to establish himself as a painter, portraitist, engraver, and carver. He found success with religious and Civil War themes. In 1857, he became involved in the ceiling decoration of the Capitol and moved to Washington, D.C.

Union Troops Spotting the Construction of the CSS Albemarle portrays the building of one of the most successful ironclads of the Civil War. The ship was famously constructed in a cornfield with scrap iron at Edwards Ferry, North Carolina on the Roanoke River. Outfitted with two iron-covered oak beams protruding from the bow, its function was to ram the sides of wooden ships and sink them. It is reported that because of a shortage of iron, the hull was covered with two-inch thick iron plates made from pots, farm implements, and railroad iron.

The Albemarle was commissioned on April 17, 1864. Twice, she succeeded in besting a superior number of U.S. Navy ships. In the second of these battles, on May 5, 1864, the Albemarle received damage to one of her guns, which caused her to lose speed. Taken up the Roanoke River for repairs, she was torpedoed and sunk during a night raid on October 27, 1864. This was accomplished by an improvised torpedo boat.

The Albemarle was raised after Union forces captured Plymouth, North Carolina. In late April 1865, she was towed to the Norfolk Navy Yard by the USS Ceres. There she was condemned as a prize and purchased by the Navy who sold her in October 1867.

Oertel became an ordained Episcopal priest in 1871 and thereafter and served as a rector in a number of Episcopal parishes in North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey and New York. He taught art at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and at Washington University in St. Louis from 1889 to 1891, and painted for churches in both places. He retired to Vienna, Virginia, in 1895, and continued to paint religious subjects until his death.

Biography courtesy of The Charleston Renaissance Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/charleston

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