James E. Buttersworth
The foremost historic racing yacht ever to sail, the Schooner AMERICA is presented in profile by the premier artist of 19TH Century American yacht racing, James E. Buttersworth. In racing trim with the national ensign and the private signal of New York Yacht Club Commodore John Cox Stevens aloft, these works are from the period of her greatest acclaim. When she won a silver cup worth 100 British Guineas put up by the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1851, a "Hawk among the Pigeons", the longest competed for trophy in world yacht racing and all sports in general was established.
Shown under sail in an expanse of New York harbor, the view is bolstered by the great look at the Battery and Castle William on the harbor headland. The racing schooner is shown as Buttersworth himself saw her in England in 1851, with her sleek black hull and stiff sheeted canvas. Stevens, after racing the remaining season in English waters, came home with his well documented victory and the Cup, and $25,000 from Lord John de Blaquiere who became the schooner's new owner in 1852.
The leading published authority on J.E. Buttersworth, Rudolph Schaefer, lists 11 paintings by Buttersworth showing America, and not all of those with her as the featured subject.
