WEST JONES ADVISORS

JAMES E. BUTTERSWORTH (British, 1817–1894)

Yacht Racing Off Sandy Hook

Signed "JE Buttersworth" in light blue lower left
oil on canvas 

20 1/8 x 36 inches
31 1/4 x 47 3/8 inches framed 

One of the nineteenth century’s finest marine painters, James Edward Buttersworth (1817—1894) is considered the master of “dramatic narrative” style that captures the relationship of sailing vessels to their surroundings of weather and ocean with a realistic treatment that has room for extremely bold atmospheric effects.  Buttersworth excelled at portraying the dramatic interaction of light, weather, waves and vessels with a compressed unity of tone and a strong narrative sense without crossing into the painterly excesses of romanticism or the full-blown quasi-devotional light of the Luminists. Yacht Racing off Sandy Hook ranks as one of the finest performances in Buttersworth’s oeuvre, transcending the genre of marine art to achieve the level of one of the great American paintings of the nineteenth century.

Yacht Racing Off Sandy Hook captures the drama of the June 14, 1877 New York Yacht Club regatta off Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Here, competing yachts unfurl their sails in a stiff breeze. The schooner at the center, Magic, was the winner of the first America's Cup in 1870. Magic heels towards the viewer in fantastic detail displaying the individual planks and deck structures including the grating at the bow. The figures in the boats are active and well-defined. Note the captain near the starboard rail in the schooner pointing and shouting orders to the crew.

 At right center, identified by its blue and white private signal is the Active, the distinctive yacht of Frank W. J. Hurst, treasurer of the New York Yacht Club. The yacht has already rounded the lightship permanently stationed at Sandy Hook (identifiable by a round lighting apparatus on a mast) just visible behind another craft in fast pursuit. Depicting the sole victory of the Active, this dramatic scene was likely commissioned by its skipper. To the far right in the distance are “puffers,” or spectator boats, on which fellow members could take passage to watch the race.

The sky is masterfully rendered in hues of plum, gray and blue which provides a dramatic backdrop for the sails. This particular regatta was known for a strong black squall that quickly rose toward the end of the race. The press described the squall as so intense that the yachts Wanderer and the Rambler were almost sunk. The accomplished marine artist Fredric Cozzens painted a notable watercolor depicting yachts floundering in the squall.