Louis Schaettle, born Chicago, IL - Fishery (study for panel, Old Senate Office Building) - ca. 1916 - T-Shirt

A tall, ordered watercolour study shows an enthroned allegorical woman set above two fishermen at work, framed by blue borders and laurel garlands.

Visual Elements & Composition

The composition stacks in three tiers. At the top, a seated female figure in a golden-yellow robe sits on a carved throne, wearing a close cap with a green rim and holding a tall staff. Below her, a standing fisherman, bare to the waist, leans back to haul a rope, while a seated figure bends over a net. Fish and coils of rope fill a wooden boat at the base, with spray rising at lower left. The palette is restrained: golden yellow and cerulean blue lead, with stone grey, sage green and warm flesh tones. The word FISHERY sits in capitals within a rectangular cartouche between garlands.

Meaning & Symbolism

The panel treats labour on the water as a subject worthy of civic decoration. The enthroned figure, robed in gold, personifies a higher idea placed over the working men, setting their work beneath an allegorical authority. The contrast between her stillness and the strain of the hauling men underlines the dignity of work, while the fish and net tie the scene to the economy of coastal and river life. The catalogue record names the artist as Louis Schaettle, born in Chicago, and dates this study to about 1916. It was made for a panel intended for the Old Senate Office Building in Washington, and its clear symbolism and framed cartouche reflect early twentieth-century American decorative painting drawing on classical forms.

Crafted for the Wearer

Because the design is built on a single vertical axis, it reads best when the shirt is worn open and upright, so the enthroned figure sits at the chest and the fishermen work below her. The cartouche and the word FISHERY anchor the lower body, where the eye lands last. Each element keeps its place in the study, so the shirt carries the panel's hierarchy from top to bottom.