James Edward Buttersworth

VOLUNTEER Off Sandy Hook, Heading Out to Race in the Goelet Cup

Circa 1887

Blessed with natural artistic ability and finding encouragement from her family at an early age, Sally Swatland has traveled the proper paths to find herself in a unique place: the foremost American woman painting children at the seashore. With a romanticized nod to yesteryear, Swatland's characters are innocent and fair, in an array of matching springtime and summery apparel. Adept with brush and palette knife, she blends many artistic influences and styles into her own unique presentations. This painting features a fair-haired young girl dipping her feet in the shallow waters along a rocky shoreline. The sea behind is a brilliant blue with small white-capped waves rolling into shore. The brushwork alternates between smooth strokes in the child's form and dress and more impasto work and sharper edges on the rocks and in the more active parts of the sea. The overall effect is that of being at the sea and finding serenity in the contrast between the calm shore and the always moving ocean. The seas' eternal inspiration form a common backdrop to many of Swatland's artistic works. Born in Washington D.C., her family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut and often summered at Tod's Point, Long Island Sound. She would go on to become an art major at Mount Saint Vincent College, study under Robert Schulz in the Art Students League of New York, and come to be represented early by Alistair Stair in his New York and Florida galleries...

Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England 70 miles North of Liverpool. Historically a part of Cumberland, it has a manmade harbor which partially dries out...

Period yacht racing is a rare and desirable subject for marine paintings, and a 19th century work from Australia of this prime subject is among the rarest finds we may offer. The artist, Charles F. Gerrard, shows up in 1882 on the Sydney professional trade list as a painter, then as a marine artist and finally as simply 'artist'. He exhibits his first works with the Royal Art Society in Sydney in 1884, consisting of coastal scenes. He is extremely well received by his contemporaries according to newspaper reports. The recognizable features of "The Rocks", along the western shore of Sydney cove near the harbor bridge, stands forth as a superb background for the racing yachts. This historic location is the foundation of the British Australian empire, and today is the oldest preserved colonial district in the country, described as "Sydney's outdoor museum". Fine-lined cutter yachts compete over a sailing course, with two shown in great close detail while five more hold their positions in the regatta, as the rhythmic small swells are evidence the wind favors the leaders running on close reaches with the crossing tide. The crew and yachts are very much in the British formal yachting manner, with full uniforms and the plum-bow hulls. Note that there is one crew attired in red, possibly a naval marine team, and the sail steam ship anchored in the center flies the Australian Colonial...

Thomas Birch is considered one of the earliest American Marine painters of importance both in his own time and historically, forming the foundation of what would become a great American Maritime movement in the successive years of the 19th century. Born in England, Birch started as a landscape painter but after the War of 1812 he turned to marine subjects, taking inspiration from the best of both English and Dutch maritime traditions but refining these techniques into a very recognizable style all his own. The work featured here is a classic of Birch's later period, when he focused specifically on maritime subjects, mainly the busy waterways of Philadelphia Harbor. Here we see one of those scenes- a series of ships plying their trade, all framed by the city as it sits across the Delaware River, with the tall, white spire of what is either Independence Hall or Christ Church to the left of the main vessel. The details of the city are particularly good in this painting, with the wharf building to the left and the long line of buildings all along the shore. The American Merchant Bark at the center of this painting is rendered in excellent detail, from her house flag and pennant, to her rigging and sails, and down to her deck filled with the activity of crewmembers readying the ship to head out, her gilt billet...

Duncan Gleason lived in New York and other places for work or studies but it was really Southern California where he felt most at home, and looking at his body of work, that love of ...

An artist who knew the vessels he painted firsthand, Baltimore artist Otto Muhlenfeld has captured the Great Lakes Steam Tug CALUMET in a colorful, working profile. Her American Ensi...

Alkyd-oil on Masonite, signed and dated (middle left), 61cm (diam.), (83cm diam. framed). (This work was kept by the artist for his personal collection. It remained in his collection...

"La Recontre" is an original oil on board painting by Jean-Claude Gaugy. The painting is a contemporary portrait of a couple looking at each other seductively on a four-piece master ...

Monogrammed lower left: ABierstadt

Signed lower right: W Bradford

Frederick Rondel (American 1826-1892) A Large, Rare Painting of "Four Horses", 1866 A magnificent and rare oval painting of horses, oil on board, measuring 52" in diameter, with exceptional quality to detail of the horses and landscape. It is indeed very rare for an American artist to paint horses in this quality and size, thus making this painting an extremely important...

Signed lower right: G.W. Sotter; on verso: MINER HILLARD / MILLING Co.