A strong commissioned portrait of the Portland, Maine barque straight from the heart of the sailing era. Likely ordered by her master, Jacob Merryman, for her owner, William Stanwood, the ship served for years. The two position portrait is complimented with the small ketch and gig boat near her, and the nice profile of the sidewheel steam pilot awaiting her maneuver. The Dover headland with a silhouette of the main castle complete the scene.

It is interesting to note that the works of I. Tudgay appear only in the singular, rather than in conjunction with the other family members. There is one school of thought which believes that ‘J’ and ‘I’ are the same.

This portrait shows some very tight detail in both views of the barque, which is reefing in sails to come to anchor. Built in 1836 at Brunswick, Maine for her owner by Stephen Harris, she measured 132’9"L x 30’1.5"B x 15’1"D. Harris had family members in the lumber and ship building trades since the pre-colonial establishment of the Kennebec communities, whom were widely known for their American schooners. Only fitting she is portrayed in a fine manner by this renown member of a family of artists.

Off the southernmost tip of the Isle of Wight is no place for an inexperienced sailor. With that forethought, there would be few “greenhands” onboard Louis Loubat’s racing schooner, ENCHANTRESS. Built in Greenpoint, New Jersey from a model by Captain Bob Fish, one of the most experienced yachtsmen of any day, she was a product of the Pine shipyard. Captain Fish would sail her over “the pond” in 1874 and lead her for part of the next three seasons in English waters. Here she competes directly with two English schooners pressing her hard, EGERIA and PANTOMIME.

The warm light upon the give depth to this dramatic and complicated composition. The Nab Lightship is a marker point, with the excursion committee steamer of the Royal Yacht Squadron keeping times for the racers. Stateside, ENCHANTRESS was a direct competitor of SAPPHO, and had a continued record of success. She won the Cape May Cup in its second year, in a race from the Sandy Hook Lightship to the Cape and back.

The large schooner measured 127'2" in length with a 24'1" beam and a depth of 10'3". She originally was ordered and owned by George Lorillard, a tobacco baron of the 19th Century, who sold the racing yacht to Loubat in 1873. In a remarkable effort, Couch has somewhat deviated from his proven broadsides of 19th Century racing yachts to a spectacular frozen moment against a difficult headwind and a cresting ocean in the southern reaches of England.

Beautifully vibrant with colors as bold as when artist Charles Robert Patterson painted this work, this is a fine marine narrative of a large American vessel sailing for pleasure captured on canvas. The barkentine’s crew proudly hoist the American Yachting Ensign with the circle of 13 stars around the fouled anchor, established for American registered yachts by Congress so ships could avoid customs’ inspections in local harbors. Several figures are shown on-deck enjoying the task of sailing the large vessel.

This painting is perfect in compositional scale, with the black-over-red funnel of a Cunard Passenger Liner cutting the Atlantic waters. In the first quarter of the 20th Century there were dozens of Cunard Liners, pre-and-post war, and some such as SCYTHIA, whose profile matches nicely to the silhouette of the distant liner, ran the Liverpool-to-New York route often. Today’s breeze is stiff and driving both the sailing yacht and the passenger’s liners smoke exhaust.

Patterson depicts the distance in three interest methods: his water actually lightens and has less variation over the sunny distance, the cloud formations and density draw us to view the sky nearly a three-dimensional with the decreasing sizes and solid atmosphere on the horizon., and the bold contrast of the close yacht to the hazy illusion of the liner expands the space pictured. At this distance one would wonder who was more envious of the others, the opulence of the age aboard the transatlantic liners of Cunard verse the freedom of pleasure cruising a traditional sailing ship.

One of three 19th Century ship portraits to have surfaced in the modern era by the artist J.A. Moutte, this working scene of the Swedish Ship BENGAL is interesting on several levels. Inscribed with the Captain’s identity, A. Osc. Carlson, and emblazoned with Swedish Merchant Ensign and International Code Flags proclaiming her identity, the ship is a sharp lined, full bodied wooden hull with a large expanse of sail canvas.

Moutte is listed as the principle ship owner with a French firm based in Marseilles that carried his name from 1855-1880. The company owned five ships, all three masters. The first was JOHANN FRIEDERICH, built in 1855 and listed in the German registry. LOUIS MOUTTE was built and registered as a French merchant ship in 1868.

BENGAL, while a wildly popular name in the records of maritime activities, is an as yet unrecognized for a 1872 listing of the Swedish Barque. Buried somewhere in Swedish archives will be her builders history and ports of call, undoubtably in service to Moutte & Co. Dirtectly. This fine watercolor portrait is a first step toward rediscovering its importance.

In a fine example of American ship portraiture, Baltimore artist Otto Muhlenfeld shows the Maine-built bark ‘AMY’ on a starboard tack with all sail set. At her main truck flies the owner's flag of the New York firm of Goss and Sawyer. The foremast shows her personal ship’s flag while her name pennant flies from the mizzen. Beneath the American ensign on her gaff truck is a four flag international code signal identifying her by number.

Carrying four jibs and royals set above her topgallants, the bark-rigged ‘AMY’ was obviously designed for speed when she was built in 1883 in the downeast shipbuilding capitol of Bath, Maine. The 700 ton vessel was 159 feet in length with a 32 foot beam and drew 16 feet of water. Goss and Sawyer used her in the Atlantic and Coastal trades.

Shown at the turn of the century, this view shows ‘AMY’ most likely off Baltimore, the region where Muhlenfeld created most of his work. The sea and sky are reminiscent of Antonio Jacobsen, the New York port painter, but Muhlenfeld shows his own singular drafting skills in the depiction of the ship’s lines, rig and deck detail.

Radiant with its red iron hull, the 1876 Sunderland-built Welsh barque would be identifiable even without the Eryri Shipping Company house flag proudly aloft. Along with three near identical sister ships of the line, they sailed the world, delivering Welsh slate mined from the Snowdonia region and returning to Great Britain with New Orleans cotton, Canadian timber and the spices, silks and silver of the Orient.

On approach to the island of Hong Kong and City of Victoria, the crown jewel of British colonialism (if one excuses them for America), the barque has every stitch of canvas driving her 219.5 feet, 1081 ton-plus stone cargo weight to port. Undoubtedly, Welsh quarrymen traveled along with the sailors to deliver their expertise in carving the sought-after building material, both in Asia and the Americas.

The unidentified Chinese artist used a uniquely styled blue rolling sea to set the sailing merchant upon, complimenting the vivid coloration further with crisp lines and mature shadowing. The sky holds a subtle white vapor which gives the tall ship plenty of breadth. Along with Glanpadarn, Glanperis & Glanivor, Glandinorwig was managed by D.P. Williams, a druggist of Llanberis, Wales, from her home port of Caernarvon. They derive their names from towns of the region, while the company name translates as “place of the eagles”, referring back to the mountain where the slate was mined. The stone was shipped to cities the world over, including China’s recognizable island.