Auction details
9:00 AM PT - Feb 19th, 2012
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O/C Schooner & Tugboat in Sunset, James Hamilton, American, 1819-78, unsigned. Large canvas with beautifully colored sunset scene, luminous and vibrant. Hamilton is known for sunset, nautical scenes, and this painting is a great example. It's an unsigned painting, but is undoubtedly his work.
Size: Work: 18" H x 30" W; Frame: 24"H X 36" W X 2" D Weight: 10 lbs Condition: Unlined, Very good with craquelure. The greatest expansion of maritime trade, and perhaps the greatest output of steam and sailing ships, occurred between 1850 and 1920. Coincidentally, this period is often referred to as the "Golden Age of Ship Portraiture." The Civil War (1861-1865) was the first American war that used vessels driven by steam instead of sailing ships. Few noteworthy examples of Civil War naval art are known because steamships did not inspire artists as sailing ships had. James Hamilton (1819-1878) was one of the few artists inspired by steamships. He is known for his painting of the Naval Engagement Between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Born in Ireland in 1878, Hamilton is said to be one of the first American painters of seascapes. In fact, in 1868 he painted "The Sea at Atlantic City," generally consider the first seascape painted in this country. Hamilton painted, engraved, and etched many marine subjects from New York to Maryland. Coming to America at age fifteen, Hamilton and his family settled in Philadephia. There is very little known about the artist's training: however, after his arrival he took a job as an illustrator for Blackwood's Magazine in Philadelphia. It has been said that much of his guidance was from book and magazine illustrations. Much of Hamilton's inspiration also came from the English painter J.M.W. Turner. In fact, Hamilton has been referred to as the "American Turner" because of the vibrant lighting effects in his seascapes. During the years 1854 and 1855, Hamilton took a trip to England, where he studied many of Turner's paintings. Hamilton died in 1878 in San Francisco while attempting to travel around the world. James Hamilton's marine paintings often represented the passions of nature. "Ships in a Gale" depicts the type of stormy, turbulent seascape he favored, just as "Sail at Sunset" shows the dramatic colors and lighting effects he often painted. In addition to "The Sea at Atlantic City" (mentioned above), Hamilton's New Jersey subjects include two watercolors, "Red Bank [on the Delaware], New Jersey," 1844, and "Delaware Water Gap," both owned by the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. Hamilton's travels abroad likewise resulted in a large number of landscape paintings. These include "An Egyptian Sunset," "The Capture of the Serapis," and "A Moonlight Scene near Venice." Condition reportUnlined, Very good with craquelure.
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