Passenger Sailing Packet

Period1875

MediumOil on academy board

Dimensions18 × 12 in. (45.7 × 30.5 cm)

MarkingsLabeled on reverse, "Academy Board. [1852 trademark] F. W. Devoe & Co., / Manufacturers of / Artists' tube colors, / Canvas, oil-sketching paper, Millboards, / Fine Bristle and Sable Brushes, / Paints, Varnishes, &c. / cor. Fulton and William Sts. New York."

SignedSigned on reverse, "Painted by / Carrie A. Swift. / Oct. 1875."

ClassificationsMarine and Seascapes

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1980

Object number1980.3.5

DescriptionA fully rigged sailing vessel with all sails set depicted in a greenish-blue choppy sea. Its decks are crowded with passengers. Three other sailing vessels appear in the distance. Two clusters of birds are shown in the partly cloudy sky left and right of the boat, which flies a blue and red pennant from the top of its mast.
NotesArtist Carrie Augusta Bowne Swift (1844 - 1924) was born in Freehold, Monmouth County, and remained there for her entire life. She often worked from prints, especially for the numerous scenes she painted of sites related to the American Revolution and the Battle of Monmouth. This charming picture of a passenger sailing packet is one of the few times Swift focused on a marine subject. No direct print source for the scene has yet been identified. But the artist did occasionally compose from nature. A landscape painting of Lake Topanemus near Freehold that is owned privately is one notable example.

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