MARINE ART
Ship "Daniel I. Tenney" 1881 by WILLIAM G. YORKE (active Brooklyn, N.Y., late 19th Century) Oil on canvas, 26x38 inches. The ship was built in Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1875.
VOSE
GALLERIES of BOSTON, Inc. ESTABLISHED 1841
238 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 02116¡ (617) 536-6176
The Atlantic Gallery
Direc tor : Mal co lm H e nderson 1055 Thomas Jefferson Stree t. '.'!.W. Washington. D .C. 20007 [202) 337 2299
Maritime Pilinlings, Etchings. ilnct Sr.ulpture
said, followed by "Loss of Pennsylvania, St. Andrews and Victoria packet ships and Lockwoods emigrant ship, painted by Samuel Walters." The picture is mediocre, really-but if ever I should see a print of it for sale, I would grab it. Incidentally , a preponderance of paintings of packet ships and clippers have, minutely depicted in the corner, a lighthouse and squat fortress . These are the Perch Rock Battery completed in 1829 and the New Brighton Lighthouse of 1830-useful identification markers for old prints. This area is close by the graveyard I mention, and apparently the old marine artists took up a vantage point on the Liverpool side to depict the new Yankee ships entering the Mersey, with a background of either the Cheshire coastline or the more distant Welsh promontaries. I never fail to fall in love with these pictures. And so how does one assess the worth of a marine painting? It may be a seascape devoid of-or inclusive of-ships, an individual portrait, a busy or placid coastal or harbor scene, or incidents aboard a ship or boat. True marine artists have a demanding field of research to study and can spend a lifetime doing so, becoming more conscious of their shortcomings in the process. Usually the sincerity of an artist comes through, and can be accepted for its worth, but mistakes are inevitably made. I would certainly not exclude myself in this respect-as I am reminded when I look with embarrassment oncertain things I have perpetrated in the past. My hope is that the field of marine painting will keep within the bounds of reason to satisfy us all, as it has done in the past for the most part, and will not be required to include, for instance, a series of white triangles labeled-let's see- "Regatta"? w ~~-A5:::~ - ~::~~~ -¡
NOTES & QUERIES
THE FIRE QUEEN I 9th-Centur y Chinese School, oil on canvas, size 13 Yi x 18 ins. In I 9th-Century ca rved Chinese fr a me.
36
Glory of the Seas was a magnificent ship, and Carl Evers' cover on SEA HISTORY No. 6 is a masterful piece of workBut who ever heard of reef points on a lower topsail? JOHN LYMAN