Lot Details
Lot 2415
James Edward Buttersworth
British/American, 1817-1894
Untitled View of Match Race Between Schooner Yachts America and Alarm, Cowes, August 5, 1860, circa 1860
Signed J.E. Buttersworth (lr)
Oil on artist's board
10 x 14 inches
Provenance:
Kennedy Galleries, New York, circa 1915
Single family collection, until 1990
The Caldwell Gallery, Manlius, New York
Literature:
Rudolph J. Schaefer, J.E. Buttersworth: 19th Century Marine Painter, Mystic, Connecticut, 1975, no. 99
Alan Granby, The Glen S. Foster Collection of Marine Paintings, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2004, ill. pl. I.4
This rare work documents one of the most eagerly awaited contests in yachting history, the rematch between the America, which had won the first of the races that came to be known as the Americas Cup - thus beginning the longest winning streak in yacht racing history - and the British yacht Alarm, which had been defeated in that event. In the first race, held in August 1851, the America, representing the New York Yacht Club, had won an astonishing victory over fifteen British rivals to bring the Royal Yacht Squadron cup to New York. The trophy was renamed the Americas Cup in honor of the length of time the New York Yacht Club continued to win the race. The trophy was only lost to Australia in 1983.
Buttersworth, the son and grandson of distinguished marine painters, documented the first nine Americas Cup races over a period of twenty-four years, making a specialty of painting not only the race itself, but also the trial matches, portraits of the competing yachts, and revenge matches such as the one shown here. Long thought to represent the original Americas Cup race, the true subject of this remarkable painting has been revealed by recent research.
Estate of Glen S. Foster
Additional Notes & Condition Report
Frame rubbing. Very fine scattered craquelure. Small area of what appears to be tiny specs of splattered house paint (upper left corner). Scattered inpainting: tiny spots scattered along the edges; 1cm area at far right center; 1 inch area of spots at far upper right center; 1 1/2 inch area of spots at far left center; 1cm area of inpainting at upper right center; large area along the right edge of inpainting - mainly along the edge, but sometimes reaching 2 inches into the image.
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