The Schooner Samuel S. Thorp

Artist William G. Yorke

Periodca. 1885 - 1890

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions25.4 × 35.5 in. (64.5 × 90.2 cm)

SignedSigned at lower left, "Wm. G. Yorke / 653 Atlantic St. / Bklyn."

ClassificationsMarine and Seascapes

Credit LineGift of the Estate of Anne Jackson Riker, 1983

Object number1983.9.9

DescriptionA starboard side view of a three-masted centerboard schooner sailing from left to right in a brisk breeze and choppy sea. All sails are set, and three flags fly from the top of the masts. One reads "Samuel S. Thorp," the name of the vessel. Another bears the initials "SST." An American flag hangs from the stern gaff. The sleek schooner, flanked by two other sailing vessels, is painted black with white trim. Five people appear on its deck. The Samuel S. Thorp is depicted entering New York Harbor, with the Highlands of the Navesink and the unmistakable Twin Lights beyond the vessel on the right. The sky is a moody mix of dark clouds and sunshine.
Curatorial RemarksAlthough artist William G. Yorke (1817 - c. 1892) painted the Samuel S. Thorp in a standard broadside view, his skillful rendering of the sea, the atmosphere, and the details of the ship's rigging confers a freshness and liveliness often missing from formulaic ship portraiture. Careful draftsmanship and nearly imperceptible brushwork in the depiction of the ship are balanced by looser handling of the clouds and waves, enlivening the texture of the work. Yorke created a great disparity in scale between the central subject of the painting and the small flanking boats and background landscape, a common compositional devise intended to magnify the size and importance of the Samuel S. Thorp. These scale-based touches bestow on the ship a commanding presence and grandeur no doubt pleasing to the individual who commissioned the painting. The Samuel S. Thorp belongs to the last great years of ship painting.NotesThe Samuel S. Thorp was a three-masted centerboard schooner built in 1881 on City Island, New York. Constructed of oak and yellow pine, it measured 150 feet in length, 35.6 feet in breadth, with a hull 15.2 feet deep and a gross tonnage of 528.53. By 1896, its home port was the Manasquan River in Monmouth County. The Thorp was sold to foreign interests in 1917, renamed the Baron Rose, and later turned into an auxiliary vessel name Laumona, both of London. The vessel may have been named after Samuel Seabury Thorp (1802 - 1880), a New York City sailmaker.

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