A scene of universal appeal, two sailing men find themselves looking from the stern of their vessel to the larger companion ship upon a driven Pacific Ocean. The artist Armin Hansen was well familiar with the challenges of sailing vessels, having crewed aboard ships out of Belgium and Germany in the early 20th Century. With a minimalists approach, Hansen is remarkably able to translate the cool weather, driven speed and human determination in this Impressionist painting. Crashing swells collide with the hulls, and the segmented views of both ships tell of the deep troughs and rising pitch and roll of the sea, with its great translucent light.

Lush green tones, deep and pale, dominate the canvas, while the brief flashes of yellows and reds create highlights of interest. There is a hidden level of technical brushwork, making what first appears to be a casual painting into an exacting and well-thought out composition. It is a day of heavy atmosphere, the sailors in wet weather gear, a block pulled nearly horizontal by an out-of-sight sail. The tools of the fishing trade occupy space, while an interesting and eye-catching anchor globe lantern floats on a line up a flag staff. Hansen was acquainted with the many fishermen of the Monterey area in the commercial business, and we join him in viewing their efforts in this exceptional painting, done after his membership in the National Academy.

The skillful combination of beautiful sky, picturesque background and accurately rendered vessel make this work an excellent example of the artistic ship portrait style of James Bard. The WILLIAM HARRISON is portrayed decked out with four prominent American flags and her gilded Pilot House Carved Eagle as she makes her way up the Hudson River.

This work concentrates fully on presenting an undistracted image of the steamboat, showing no passengers, a device Bard used throughout the later and most important period of his career. Note the classic perspective that draws the eye unerringly to the center of the composition and the use of tiny white dots making up the spray off the bow and paddlewheel to show movement. The original paint is in such excellent condition that the detailed touches of raised, thick oil are visible to the eye and the flags, windows, eagle, and elsewhere.

The 377.67 ton WILLIAM HARRISON [153'LOA x 26.2'B x 8.8D] was built at Keyport, New Jersey in 1864 by Benjamin Terry for C.W. Copeland of the Citizens Transportation Company. The vessel’s namesake, William Harrison, owner of the company that fabricated her vertical beam steam engine, was the original owner of this painting.

Captured by Moran, a brig under her full flight of sail is ready to brave the open sea away from Manhattan and Governors Islands in the excellent composition of this painting by New York master Edward Moran. A coastal schooner catches a tug boat tow, while several sailing yachts and a large steam liner reside along the horizon, accented by the rosy hue of the sunlight on the red sandstone of Castle Williams on the island headland.

Moran spent many of his professional days along New York’s harbor, and he painted scenes which venture beyond the work of the period’s traditional marine artists and ship portraitists. Even at this distance he presents an accurate depiction of the 40 foot-high walls of the round fort that rests across from Castle Garden and Battery Park. Interesting that Governors Island was one of the first New York locations to be settled and the castle, built in 1811, never fired a shot in warfare. The island was sold to the state of New York in 2003 by George W. Bush.

It bodes well for the sailors that the cloud bank behind them is full and billowy, showing that a the wind is most likely rising. A significant bonus is the artistic taste of Moran when it came to choosing frames for his paintings. The original ornate gilt that he selected is still with this fine work showing the diversity and activity of historic New York.

A sloop with a plum bow, strongly believed to be famous PURITAN fresh off her successful America’s Cup defense in 1885, races with two schooners off the coast of Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York’s Lower Bay. A full rigged merchant sailing ship heads out under tow from a pilot steam tug, and several other sails fill “The Narrows”, the watery gap between the headlands on the approach to Upper New York Bay and the seaport of Manhattan. James E. Buttersworth earned his reputation as the premier artist of 19th Century American yachting, and while he painted through the Northeast, this is one of his favored locations.

The water of New York Bay is animated with a stiff breeze-driven chop, harmonious to the late afternoon setting sun, while seabirds stay just above the surface. While the light is still strong, the racers are headed to their home berths. PURITAN, owned and raced by John Malcom Forbes, was built in the New York Yard of George Lawley & Son in 1885. She triumphed in the defense of the America’s Cup in 1885 against the English challenge of Sir Richard Sutton and his Cutter GENESTA. PURITAN, with her compromise cutter hull / sloop rig, was one of th every first of her style built in America. She’d be the primary influence for MAYFLOWER which would win the Cup Defense the following year.

The New York headlands appear just distant enough to show little but their green foliage, and the sky varies to a sunny brilliance toward heavy clouds. The white hulled yacht was one of the very first so styled, after having her hull painted black for her Cup match. Soon, all others would follow suit.

Shown in a momentary respite after a transatlantic sailing in 1855, the American Packet Ship STAR OF THE WEST is at anchor in the waters of Venice, where “John” Luzzo witnessed the arrival of the American merchant/passenger ship. Proudly flying the national ensign, she has her pilot request flag on the jib boom, an unusual code arraignment forward, on the main a mail-carrying commission American streamer over her owner’s flag, Samuel Thompson’s Nephews Company. The packet, built in 1850, ran primarily between New York and Liverpool, carrying many European emigrants to America, and U.S. goods abroad.

STAR OF THE WEST was built by Perrine, Patterson & Stack’s Yard in New York, launched in 1850 at 1280 tons, and held a diverse record of runs for more than 20 years to Liverpool, the Mediterranean and Australia. She is not to be confused with the Cornelius Vanderbilt sidewheel steamer of the same name that was attacked in Charleston Harbor in 1861 to initiate the American Civil War. Our STAR OF THE WEST sold foreign in the late 1870s, her final fate unknown.

Painted by Luzzo undoubtably for her commander, John Woodward, who is named, STAR OF THE WEST is on display amongst the architectural and cultural excellence of Venice, capture during a point of prominence for American merchant sail. The elegance of Venice, with the classic gondoliers before her and many more at the quay near the Governor’s Palace with the domes of Santa Maria beyond, is in full bloom. The draftsman-like quality of Luzzo completes the work, where even the detailed lettering on the flags displayed in reverse is crisp of coloration and precise.

Celebrating the victory of J. Gordon Bennett's HENRIETTA in the prestigious and important 1866 transatlantic schooner challenge, a professional British yachting crew led by two officers and two female companions wave encouragingly to the departing racers. Members of the New York Yacht Club advanced the prestige and stakes of yacht racing with this epic event, each wagering $30,000 on the winner-take-all affair. Captured in the newspapers, barroom tales, and numerous visual works of art, the public’s imagination and interest was widespread and passionate. This fine period folk art painting of the legendary race from New York to England is by the American artist William Carr. Carr inscribes the work verso with its title, date, and his Jacksonville, Illinois hometown.

Identification of the racing schooners is assisted by the special colored flags worn by the yachts. Foremost in the painting, wearing the blue identifier atop her mast is HENRIETTA, owned by renown newspaper publisher and infamous yachtsman James Gordon Bennett, Jr. Following closely is VESTA, owned by tobacco baron and racehorse afficionado Pierre Lorillard, who initiated the competition with a dinner party boast over turtle soup that his 105-foot schooner was the fastest yacht afloat. In the third position is New York Yacht Club members George and Franklin Osgood's famous FLEETWING. Each wagered to be victorious in the head-to-head-to-head match race across the Atlantic Ocean. Bennett's HENRIETTA was the first to the finish off the Isle of Wight with a time of 13 days, 21 hours and 45 minutes winning the then-unrivaled and unheard of purse for any race of $90,000. This equates roughly to a value of $9 to $15 million in today’s markets!

The folk art styling of William Carr’s painting is an added bonus in this period view of the historic race. The schooners are cresting, hard driven and harmoniously composed in their interaction with the wind. A late winter squall - the race began on Dec. 11 and finished on Christmas Day- shows with the streaking downpour coming through the heavy clouds. The race was so widely celebrated that numerous artists painted its moments, and the prestigious lithography firm of Currier & Ives made multiple scenes of this race, mostly from the originals of James E. Buttersworth. Carr locates the three schooners and the red-uniformed longboat crew in the southern reaches of Long Island Sound Inlet, and has the pair of British officers attired in their formal blue outfits saluting the competitors as they finish their challenging Atlantic Ocean crossing at the south of England and the annuals of yacht racing immortality.