Tommaso de Simone

Brig EPHRATAH of Port Madoc Entering Naples

Dated 1875

A stalwart American ship clearing the Delaware headed for Honolulu with a load of coal, this broadside ship portrait by Alexander Charles Stuart is of the Ship GATHERER. In her maiden year of service, the Bath, Maine-built Downeaster went to New Orleans with hay, took a load of cotton from there to Liverpool, and crossed to collect the coal in Philadelphia before heading to Hawaii. She'd make 8 Cape Horn voyages, averaging about 129 days, a profitable and fast sailing Downeaster, and yet still record one of the bloodiest voyages in merchant maritime history. In this portrait, A.C. Stuart shows the large wooden vessel...

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...

This fine portrait is of the merchant bark ST. GEORGE sailing past the South Stack Lighthouse, the last signaling station in a chain of twelve leading ships along the Welsh coast and out to sea from Liverpool Harbor. Painted with great detail throughout, the ship features multiple figures on deck, in full sail and with flags flying including that of her owners Hall and Fairweather of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. The bright scene has particularly nice cloud work in the sky and features the stylized short, green swells with a touch of white spray typical of the Liverpool school artists. At her bow, another sailing ship heads...

This attractive portrait features the five-masted schooner ELINOR H. at full sail in an active sea. The ship has crisp lines and a sharp sense of detail, likely because it was painte...

Oil on canvas painting of an English ship of the line HMS Invincible. Signed R B Spencer on the lower left. The vessel is shown under both sail and steam p...

British Schooner Ship Entering Jersey / Guernsey Harbour Port, 19th Century British School 19th Century Marine Oil study of a British Schooner entering the harbour of Jersey/Guerns...

Duncan McFarlane. This excellent ship portraitist began his life's work in Liverpool. It is believed that he later sailed to America and was employe...

This late 19th-century French oil painting depicts the barque Limbe in choppy waters, with the silhouettes of two further ships beyond. It was probably produced at Le Havre, France, ...