WEST JONES ADVISORS

JAMES E. BUTTERSWORTH (British, 1817–1894)
Clipper Ship Black Warrior

Signed lower right “J E Buttersworth”

oil on canvas, circa 1853
29 x 35 ¾ inches
40 x 47 inches framed

An exceptionally rare and important canvas, Clipper Ship Black Warrior ranks as one of Butterworth’s greatest renditions of a clipper ship under sail. The treatment of the deck and crew aboard the Black Warrior are exemplary of Butterworth’s best early American works, carefully rendered to highlight intricate details such as the molding on the deckhouses, the flailing sheets of the jib that the crew is tending at the bow, the full figurehead, the nameboard at the bow and the quarterboard aft. Each plank on the hull is discernible, which is a characteristic common to Buttersworth’s clipper ship paintings of the 1850s. This level of detail rarely is seen in the work of other marine artists of the time.

Clipper Ship Black Warrior presents an outstanding example of Buttersworth's expressive style, with exceptional brightness and saturation in the pink and purple highlights in the sky and signature puffy clouds. The rolling waves are intricately painted with white foam at the crests and lively detail along the hull. The lighting on the hull is notable in the way that it captures the surrounding reflections. All the sails have outstanding movement and shape with sail seams and reef points accurately delineated and well-preserved. Many of the Currier & Ives clipper ship prints painted by James Buttersworth are similar in composition and may have been inspired by this significant piece. 

The figurehead appears in close detail depicting a woman with outstretched arms. A quarterboard bearing the name “Black Warrior” is visible crisply painted along the bow and in front of the anchor, while a second quarterboard is mounted below the lifeboat. The stern decoration is also visible. There are several figures onboard. The deckhouses and lifeboats are carefully rendered. The spars are also beautifully drafted and the stunsails are visible from the lower three yardarms on the front two masts. Flying from the peak of the main mast is a white flag with a red, white and blue American shield. The American flag is flying off the gaff. To the left of the “Black Warrior” is another clipper ship flying an American flag. This vessel is under shortened sail and is flying a house flag from the peak of the main mast with a white ground and a red cross with a blue dot at the center of the cross. 

The Black Warrior was launched in late 1853 from the Austin & Co. shipyard in Damariscotta, Maine, and was used by her owners, William Wilson and Son of Baltimore, for shipping between New York, London, Australia, South America, San Francisco and Hong Kong before she was sold to James Baines & Co. of Liverpool, under whose ownership she went by the name City of Melbourne and flew the British flag.