Otto Muhlenfeld

Great Lakes Tugboat CALUMET

Circa 1892

The strength of a great ship portrait lies with its overall striking composition blended with an attention to detail. Charles Sidney Raleigh was extremely skilled with both elements, and this is one of his finest works. An American full-rigged ship of large proportions, LUCY G. DOW is one of many ships owned by Maine interests, where the ship would be locally built and consortium owned. More Maine captains owned part of their ships than any other East Coast region, it appears through an informal survey of lists. Note the fine details of the captain and crew hard at work onboard off the coast. The numerous buildings are clustered on the peninsular stretch with a pier coming out near the lighthouse’s walkway. At the distance, ship masts...

Excellent attention to detail has brought forth a superb rendering of the armed American merchant marine freighter S.S. PLEIADES in wartime grey departing Le Havre during World War I...

This luminous work depicts the American merchant brigantine E. MILLER. The sun sits low behind the ship, illuminating the sky with colors of yellow and deep rose tones. The sun has just touched the sea at the ship's bow and around her stern, creating a halo of light in the small waves. The E. Miller is in full sail with sailors active on her deck, with her brightly colored name pennant snapping in the wind alongside the American flag and company flag. Though unsigned, this is clearly the work of artist Elisha Tyler Baker. Baker only signed about a third of his paintings, so this is not unusual for the artist. The rendering of the vessel to his touch in the sea and sky all give very clear clues that the work is his. Though little information remains about her voyages we know the ship E. MILLER was built in Virginia by the Surry Company in 1856 and had a weight of 132 tons. Sailing out of Richmond she was also known to frequent the port of Baltimore. From Richmond she would have carried out agricultural goods, lumber, and iron, while importing manufactured goods and guano to fertilize Virginia's tobacco fields. Given that she was built before the Civil War and was ported in Richmond throughout the war, it's likely the E. MILLER was involved in moving goods to supply Confederate forces. Sight Size: 23 3/4 x 32 Inches Vallejo Gallery features the finest in marine and maritime antiques...

Proud Liner of the Aberdeen White Star Line, AUSTRALASIAN carried emigrants and first-class passengers to Australia and South Asia in the late 1880s & 1890s. This colorful period woo...

William Ball Spencer, Seascape, Oil on Canvas, Sailboat Painting, British, 19th C. An oil on canvas by William Ball Spencer 1854–1923, a renowned British marine artist. Signed lower left, ' W.B. Spencer.' This work depicting clipper ship "Mennock." W.B. Spencer is the son of Richard Ball Spencer (1812-1897), also a well-renowned marine artist. Old minor tears having old repairs done remarkably well. Not noticeable at all from the front view. Oil on Canvas, British/American, late 19th/early 20th century William Ball Spencer was born on 22 June 1854 in Stepney and was baptised at St Thomas’s Church on 30 July of the same year. On 12 October 1873, he married Fanny Wardill at Trinity Church, Stepney. She was 20 years old and the daughter of Jonathan Wardill, a civil engineer. According to the 1881 census, William, then aged 27, was living at 8 High Street, Poplar, listed as a marine artist. Residing with him were his wife Fanny (also 27, born in Stepney), their four sons—aged between seven years and five months—and their 16-year-old servant, Charles C. Seward, born in Sheerness. Seward is recorded as a “Shop boy to Artist,” suggesting that William not only produced artwork but also operated a commercial studio or shop, likely selling original paintings, prints, and related items. Following in the footsteps of his father, Richard Ball Spencer (1812–1897), also a painter, William specialized primarily in broadside ship portraits rendered in a similar stylistic manner. He occasionally painted other maritime scenes and was known to create copies of earlier naval battle paintings...

A wonderful realistic portrait of the Penobscot, a mid-19th century coastal sidewheel steamer, rendered in Cameron’s hallmark marine portrait style - technically meticulous, historically informed, and visually serene. Executed with crisp linework and a soft, luminous palette, the ship is shown in profile navigating calm Atlantic waters under both steam and sail, her red paddle box emblazoned boldly with her name. Commissioned in 1843 by Menemon Sanford’s Steamship Line and constructed in New York, the Penobscot was a near twin to her sister ship, the Kennebec, but became especially prized for her seaworthiness. Measuring 228 feet in length with a 48-foot beam and twin 14-foot paddlewheels, she carried schooner rigging fore and aft, providing the added stability necessary for coastal and offshore passages. Initially assigned to the Maine coastal excursion routes, she would later be reassigned to the elite New York–Philadelphia line and eventually sold and renamed Norfolk for pre-Civil War service along the southern coast. This work is oil on canvas and is signed in the lower right. It is housed in its original black frame and retains the artist’s description of the ship on the reverse. Size: 22 inches tall by 44 inches wide (painting) 26 inches tall by 48 inches wide by 1 inch deep (frame) Provenance: Private collection; Acquired from the above About the artist: A Delaware artist, Scott Cameron paints the simple elegance of the America’s Cup races, serene coastal marsh scenes, timeless landscape vistas and historic steamboats in a style reminiscent of the era in which they reigned. An admirer of Andrew Wyeth and the Brandywine School of painters, Scott has combined the detail and quiet stillness of that School in his landscapes with the Luminist School’s sense of light glowing from within. A soft gentle atmosphere seems to fall over each scene adding to the peacefulness of the setting, and a sense of a time gone by. His America’s Cup scenes capture the action at a moment in time, allowing the beauty of the wind-filled sails to become the central design element of each painting. Scott Cameron has exhibited his oil paintings in numerous national and regional shows from the Mystic Seaport Museum to solo and group shows in some of the foremost galleries throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Favorite painting locations are the waterways and coastal inlets of Martha’s Vineyard and Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the gentle rolling landscapes of rural Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Meticulous research is behind every historic steamboat and America’s Cup painting...

Signed lower left. In this richly imaginative painting by Julian Nemethy reimagines the Hudson River day liner not merely as a vessel of transport, but as a dreamscape in motion. The steamboat, rendered with meticulous precision, glides through a river that shimmers magically—beneath a sky alive with imaginative playful clouds Nemethy’s signature style is on full display: whimsical flourishes, exaggerated perspectives, and a near-naïve attention to detail that invites the viewer into a world where nostalgia and fantasy intertwine. The day liner becomes a symbol of freedom and wonder, a floating stage for the American imagination. It’s a celebration of movement, memory, and the enduring romance of the Hudson. Contemporary artist Julian Nemethy is the son of artist Albert Nemethy, and his work can be distinguished from that of his father by the use of fantastical elements, extreme use of color and detail, and whimsical touches. Julian Nemethy is one of the many artists in the Nemethy family. Born in Hungary, his parents fled the Communist regime in the mid-1950s when Julian was a small child. He was one of six siblings who were raised by their father. In high school, Julian taught himself to paint, and felt he had found his vocation. In the 1980s, he moved to the Smokey Mountains of...

A Fine depiction of an American Steamer Ship "Fantasy" in the open ocean. For this wonderful depiction of a 19th Century sailing ship, Nemethy uses a Fine technique which depicts the...