Robert Salmon

On the Clyde

Painted 1819

Although suggesting a yacht or boating club due to its prime waterfront location, this panoramic view by Philadelphia artist Xanthus Smith, most likely shows a US Lifesaving Service facility in one of the mid-Atlantic states. Originating in the mid-1800’s, the U.S. Lifesaving Service’s earliest buildings were strictly utilitarian, but as the Service grew, so did the size of the stations. By the 1880s, they were becoming more fashionable and usually were made up of two or three structures as shown here. The main building contained the offices and berthing area for the crew and usually featured a lookout tower on the roof. Smaller buildings housed classrooms and medical facilities. Some were built to resemble a Swiss chalet and one was even designed with a clock tower. Noted architect A. B. Bibb designed stations like this one that looked much like beach resort homes with lookout towers. The stations were usually located near the approaches to major ports and were maintained by the United States Revenue Marine (later renamed the United States Revenue Cutter...

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...

Painted with unsurpassed detail, Robert Salmon's works are desirable to collectors the world over, due to the impressive amount of historic subject matter presented through artistic compositions of the highest order. As an artist Salmon was one of the most important to come out of England and immigrate to America in this period, influencing the art of Fitz Henry Lane...

One of the most exciting races between American clipper ships took place between October, 1852 and January, 1853. The vessels involved were the crack clippers FLYING FISH, JOHN GILPIN and WILD PIGEON. Departing New York, each a few days apart, the three ships met up off Cape Horn and proceeded, often in sight of one another, to fly up the west coast to San Francisco. The JOHN GILPIN gambled by heading farther west into the pacific where a strong northerly got her to San Francisco first. FLYING FISH and WILD PIGEON remained in sight of one another for most of the voyage in their dash up the coast. FLYING FISH arrived a day after GILPIN, but having left New York three days behind her adversary, was declared the winner. This view shows an excellent starboard view of the great FLYING FISH on her entry into San Francisco Bay. The water has superb light and reflection while the Marin headlands show as her backdrop, with the ever-present misty atmosphere of this important California port. A well captured moment of one of the fastest and most powerful 19th century great sailing ships created. Sight Size: 18 x 34 inches Vallejo Gallery...

Pluie a Venice is painted in Hambourg's preferred palette of muted blue-green, grey, and gold with splashes of ruby red, deep blue, and emerald green. The soft colors work well for beach scenes and rainy days such as the ones portrayed in this painting. The impressionistic scene shows multiple pedestrians strolling down the boardwalk, shielding themselves from the rain with colorful umbrellas that provide pops of color and balance the overcast sky. The background contains a three-masted ship and Piazza San Marco's famous bell tower and Basilica. Hambourg uses the minimum number of brushstrokes necessary to portray ships, seagulls, buildings and people as well as reflections on the glistening sidewalk. The brushstrokes in the sky have an interesting texture that is controlled yet carefree and there is heavy impasto throughout. His portrayal is both realistic and romanticized. Hambourg was clearly influenced by the great Impressionist artists of earlier generations, perhaps none more than the one with a direct connection to his family. Hambourg's wife, Nicole Rachet, was born into a family with a large collection of works by Impressionist master Eugene Boudin. Rachet's grandfather was a contemporary and friend of Boudin's, and a collector of his work. In their later years, Hambourg and Rachet donated over 300 canvases by Boudin and other artists to the Eugene Boudin Museum in Honfleur, France. It was such a large and important gift that the collection bears...

Three ships - an American Three-Masted Steam Schooner, a British Sailing Royal Navy Frigate and a British Sidewheel Steam Naval Frigate - are all challenged by a tempestuous sea in this English Channel crossing scene. The British sailors work in unison to reef and employ sails on both frigates, running with the heavy, wind-driven sea towards Ramsgate, while the fore-and-aft rigged steam schooner burns her boilers while keeping her sails up to help stabilize the pitch and roll of the American ship, headed to continental Europe. Buttersworth has expertly detailed the actions of the men, their ships and the dramatic setting. Many other ships lay at anchorages off the Kent coast, showing from the Cliffs of Dover to the fortifications of Ramsgate. This early visit by an American sail/steam vessel to England is remarkable. The first such transatlantic voyage happened in 1819, by the historic S.S. SAVANNAH, and it’d take almost 20 years to be repeated. Among the first names of American Steam Schooners to make British ports, ASP, HARRIET, and BRUTUS are among those recorded. MIDAS, a steam schooner owned by Robert Bennett Forbes, was the first American steamship to China, in 1844. Showing a varied and illuminated sky that is recognized as a signature of Buttersworth’s artistic talent in his paintings, the stormy clouds are split by a sunburst opening, reflective light creating an emotional, positive hope for the subjects. The English Channel is at its narrowest width in this stretch off Kent, home to the Cinque Ports regulating trade and naval protection in the English Southeast for centuries. Buttersworth is soon bound for life in America, making this one of his last, and in our opinion, best British scenes painted in England. Sight Size: 18 x 24 Inches Signed LR: J.E. Buttersworth Provenance: India House...

Oil painter Aron Belka's Sunflower Series features sunflowers painted on panel. The sides are unpainted, white. Includes a wire hanger, with Belka's signature in the lower right-hand...

Oil painter Aron Belka's Sunflower Series features sunflowers painted on panel. The sides are unpainted, white. Includes a wire hanger, with Belka's signature in the lower right-hand...

Oil painter Aron Belka's Sunflower Series features sunflowers painted on panel. The sides are unpainted, white. Includes a wire hanger, with Belka's signature in the lower right-hand...

Amy Meyer studied art at University of Central Missouri, Indiana State University, and Columbia College, where she completed her degree in painting and drawi...

Eugène-François Deshayes (1808–1875) was a French artist known for his landscape and marine paintings. He was born in Paris and initially trained as a lawyer, but his passion for art...

Amy Meyer studied art at University of Central Missouri, Indiana State University, and Columbia College, where she completed her degree in painting and drawi...