James Bard
Born in New York City, James Bard would become one of the nation’s top marine painters, chronicling the commercial activity of the Hudson River. Although he occasionally painted schooners and yachts, he is best known for depicting steamboats, the technological marvel of his generation. While his paintings are remarkable for their draftsmanship and precise nautical detail, they represent flawless idealizations rather than working vessels.
What about this painting is realistic and what is unrealistic?
Because Bard’s paintings were typically commissioned by ship owners, they avoided depicting the dangers of steamboats, which sometimes burned and sank when their overheated boilers exploded. The Syracuse, whose paddle-wheel box bears imagery of the sun rising behind that city’s modern industrial factories, was owned by the Schuyler Steam Towboat Company, founded in 1825 by Samuel Schuyler, a free African American who bore the name of one of New York’s oldest Dutch colonial families.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Burgess Jamieson
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