James E. Buttersworth
TOWING INTO NANTUCKET
In this painting Buttersworth ventures up the coast from his familiar waters in and around the New York harbor. The Island of Nantucket, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, becomes the backdrop from this engaging narrative.
In the left foreground a finely detailed brigantine is shown being towed in behind one of Nantucket's green-hulled harbor tugs. Although the brigantine's name is not apparent, at the cap of her mainmast she wears the house flag of the F.A. Delano Company of New York. Just abeam of the harbor light, a schooner-yacht, topsails doused in the brisk wind, prepares for a jibe that will take her into the harbor. The swallowtail pennant at the schooner's main designates her owner as a member of the New York Yacht Club.
Buttersworth's choice of a low horizon line, defining a band of beautiful translucent emerald green water, creates an appealing low angle viewpoint for the spectator. The soft luminescence in the sky highlights the brigantine's rigging and emphasizes the wonderful detail of the town and harbor of Nantucket.
SCHOONER RACE OFF NEWPORT
The fragile power, grace and speed of a trio of schooners on a close reach off Newport, Rhode Island is exquisitely expressed by Buttersworth in this view. The strength of the wind is suggested by taught sails and frothing bow waves evidencing the artist's highly deserved reputation for portraying the breathtaking performance of the racing yachts of the 19th century.
The sea is a characteristic jade green and unified in tone with a soft, golden-hued sky that is shaded at the horizon by a lingering cloud bank. By varying his tones, Buttersworth has used both half-light and shadow to convey the perceived effects of transparency and luminousity in the vibrant sea and sky.
The vessels are separated by distance, but appear linked by a physical tension created by the shared direction of wind and wave. The waterfront detail of Newport is interrupted by smaller craft and an anchored sailing ship deployed at different angles in the inner harbor. In the foreground, three men in a pulling boat and a few scattered gulls enhance the painting's dramatic narrative action.
