Steamboat Keyport

Artist James Bard

Period1853

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions33.1 × 52 in. (84.1 × 132.1 cm)

SignedSigned lower left, "Picture Drawn & Painted by James Bard NY. / [Pe]rry St. 1853."

ClassificationsMarine and Seascapes

Credit LineGift of Miss Anne Arrowsmith, 1931

Object number17

DescriptionThe Steamboat Keyport, depicted on her port or left side, steams across the canvas from right to left in front of a low-lying coastline possibly along Raritan Bay on a sunny, nearly cloudless day. The white vessel includes details such as a bright green, orange and gilt paddlebox panel, black smokestack, covered open decks fore and aft, bright blue bow flag bearing the letter K, and a red flag with the name Keyport at the stern. Patriotic banners fly from the bow and stern masts, as well as from the walking beam. Passengers wearing black suits are scattered on the upper and lower decks. Smoke pouring from the stack, a representation of splashing water at the bow, and backwash of the paddlewheel give a sensation of movement.
Curatorial RemarksJames Bard became a leading marine painter in New York during his lifetime. It is estimated that he produced over 3,000 paintings during the course of his artistic career at the rate of six or more ship portraits per month.NotesThe paddle wheel steamboat Keyport was built in 1852-53 at the shipyard of Benjamin C. Terry in Keyport. The vessel measured 184 feet in length, with 490 gross tonnage. Her engine had been salvaged from the Chingarora, which had burned in New Orleans. The Keyport was a passenger and freight vessel built for the Keyport & Middletown Point Steamboat Co., incorporated in 1852. It ran on the Keyport to New York route from 1853 to 1862 before it was sold. During the Civil War it was chartered as a dispatch boat on the Potomac River. Afterwards she was sold to the Potomac Steamboat Co. The vessel, renamed the James T. Brett in 1884, later ran on the Hudson River for a succession of owners until scrapped in 1917 at Rondout. Two additional versions of this painting exist. This one was owned by Capt. Thomas V. Arrowsmith, an early captain of the vessel. The donor was his daughter.

Collections

ProvenanceCapt. Thomas V. Arrowsmith to his daughter Anne Arrowsmith